


The King Is (Not) Dead

by hannisgrahamcracker



Category: Borderlands
Genre: AU, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Betrayal, Blow Jobs, M/M, lots & lots of blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 23:48:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5268491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannisgrahamcracker/pseuds/hannisgrahamcracker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Handsome Jack returns from the vault, everyone on Helios suddenly turns their backs on him because of terrible rumours about him spreading all over the station. Everyone who once loved and adored the CEO are now agreeing with the people of Pandora that he is in fact terrible. Everyone is disgusted, surprised, heartbroken, overwhelmed... </p>
<p>Everyone except for Rhys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The news was all over Helios; everyone knew about how Handsome Jack left for the vault. All of Helios thought of Jack’s acts to be heroic, whereas most of Pandora thought otherwise. They were on the vault hunters side, and Rhys didn’t like that. They were only bandits, so he wouldn’t have cared, but when almost an entire population on a freaking _planet_ is trying to destroy Helios and screw over Hyperion, that’s when he had a problem.

Jack had left for Pandora just a few days ago and as much as Rhys hated to admit it, he missed Jack dearly. Although he wasn’t as close to Jack as he would have wanted to be he was still considering himself as a friend to the CEO. They talked when they had the chance, sometimes Jack would ask him to join him for lunch, but other than that it wasn’t a whole lot; of course, to Jack at least, as Rhys thought of before. To Rhys this was a dream come true.

Unfortunately, Rhys knew Jack wasn’t coming back anytime soon, considering he did have to go into space and travel to the planet. He knew traveling there wouldn’t take so long, but what he knew would take long would be the preparation of a possible fight, since he did hear how Jack wanted to kill the vault hunters with his own hands. Other than preparation, he knew he wanted the vault badly, so if it was already open Rhys knew Jack wouldn’t waste a single second not looting the place. Rhys has only heard things lingering in conversations of the citizens in Helios so he really had no idea what was going on.

Other thoughts ran through his head, pushing away the beginning thoughts of “When will he be coming home?”. He sometimes heard thoughts flow around in his mind saying, “Will Jack even come back?” Most of the time he waved it away as if it was just a mere conspiracy, but the more he tried to push it away the more it came back, hitting harder each time it did. Maybe he wouldn’t be coming back. These thoughts keep Rhys up at night. As much as Vaughn tried to tell him he would be okay because he’s Handsome goddamn Jack, it still wasn’t helping a whole lot. The longer Jack was gone the worse it got for Rhys. “And it’s only been four days,” Rhys thought to himself several times that day, sighing aloud afterwards. “This is gonna be hell.”

\--

Rhys was awoken by the sounds of what sounded like hundreds of people outside his apartment. He slowly rose out of bed, then went to the window to see what was going on. Just as he had predicted there were hundreds of people outside of his apartment. Rhys furrowed his brows and walked over to his phone, picking it up and dialing Vaughn’s number quickly.

“Hello?”

“Bro, what the hell’s going on?” Rhys looked out of his window again.

Vaughn didn’t reply for a second; all Rhys could hear on the other end was yelling and talking. “Sorry bro, what did you say?”

Rhys cocked a brow and walked away from his window. He started to put on pajama pants then put on a sweater. “Are you out there?” He asked, his tone sounding rather annoyed.

“Didn’t you hear?” Vaughn shouted into his phone as Rhys walked out of the apartment, locking his door behind him. “Jack’s back!”

Rhys’ eyes widened and he felt his phone start to slip from his fingers. “Jack’s back?!”

Instead of walking out of the building Rhys started to sprint out, eventually joining the crowd. “Bro, tell me where you are.”

Rhys started to push through the crowds of people, trying to follow Vaughn’s directions that he said on the phone to meet up with him.

“Rhys!”

Rhys turned around, seeing his shorter friend push through to get to him. He hung up his phone and put it in his sweater pocket. He reached out his hand and let Vaughn grab it so he could get to him without losing him.

“When did he come back?” Rhys shouted, leaning down to Vaughn so he could hear him better.

“Just this morning, everyone’s freaking out!”

Rhys stood up straight and looked around, letting out a sigh. “Yeah, I can see that,” he muttered to himself, sighing once again.

“This is ridiculous!” He hears Vaughn shout. He looked over to his friend as he continued to speak. “I mean, does everyone really think they can go and see Jack? Everyone on Helios is here!” Rhys looked away, but he still listened to him speak.

“Jack _just_ came back from the vault. I didn’t get to see him, but I have a feeling he doesn’t look too pretty right now. Why would he let anyone in? I bet even his personal assistant isn’t allowed to see him for the rest of the damn week!” Vaughn sighs and pushed his glasses up to rub his eyes. “There’s no way in hell these people are stupid enough to think Jack will show himself. I mean- I wouldn’t even be here, but work ended early just to see him.” He sighed angrily and crossed his arms. “Not that I don’t care about him coming back, I mean it’s awesome that he made it back and all…”

Vaughn’s voice was drowned out by the crowd of people getting rowdier as if something was said that made them angry. Rhys could feel the anger and annoyance radiating off of the crowd which made him nervous. He pulled Vaughn a bit closer to him to make sure he didn’t lose him or have him get trampled by other people if they decided to move.

“What do you thinks going on?” Vaughn asked him, his cheek pressed up to his flesh arm. Rhys shrugged in response, getting on his toes to see above the people’s heads. Eventually the familiar jingle sounded from the megaphones placed all around Helios; an announcement was made, stating that Handsome Jack wouldn’t be seeing anyone today. Rhys smirked a bit, thinking about what Vaughn had ranted on about for the while they were standing there.

“I knew it,” Vaughn shouted to Rhys as if on que, the crowd slowly dispersing after the announcement. “It’s so obvious, I mean, _why_ would anyone even think they could see him today, right?”

“I get it, Vaughn,” Rhys chuckled, turning to face the direction of where they apartments were. He wanted to shower, to get dressed, maybe have a coffee…

“So. What now?” Vaughn was still at Rhys’ side, walking along with him. Rhys shrugged despite the fact he knew exactly what he was going to do. “I guess I’ll head home, probably take a shower and get ready for the day.” He figured he’d do so, as much as he’d like to go back to sleep. There was no way he’d be able to catch some more sleep with the thought of Jack back in Helios flooding his brain completely.

“Want to get a coffee with me after?” Vaughn asks, putting his hands in his sweater pockets. Rhys smirks a bit; he loved the fact his best friend could practically read his mind. “That sounds good.”

\--

Vaughn walked Rhys home- well, of course he did, since they lived in the same building. Rhys liked to think he walked _him_ home, and vice versa with Vaughn. They separated and went into their own homes to get ready for the day. Rhys would have guessed Vaughn was getting ready too, but he remembered he had the day off today, and Vaughn had a half day with the whole Handsome Jack returning fiasco. Rhys didn’t exactly forget about Jack’s arrival; that would have been next to impossible.

While walking into his apartment Rhys started to strip as he made his way to the bathroom to shower. His heart still clenched each time he thought of Jack, which was every second so by this point his chest was beginning to ache. All throughout his shower Rhys couldn’t get his mind off of him. It was the norm for Rhys, thinking of him before his trip to the vault, during his trip, and of course after his trip, but this felt different. The thought of the handsome CEO made his heart race with anxiety yet excitement. He wanted to go see him now, right now but he knew he couldn’t. Rhys wasn’t a VIP or an important person to Jack, no matter how many lunches he was invited to, or how many close moments they had together; Rhys figured he was Jack’s plaything, no more no less. He wanted to be more to Jack, but that was obvious. Who didn’t want to be more than a plaything with Handsome Jack? Even the men Rhys was certain to be straight made eyes at Jack. He didn’t know for sure if it was admiration or desire, but he sure wished it was just admiration than anything. Rhys wasn’t the jealous type, it was more so these men were older than he was and had a better chance with Jack, unless he liked them young. At first Rhys thought he wouldn’t even dare go in that direction, but the deeper Rhys fell into the ‘handsome trap’ the more he thought about the possible young kink Jack may have. Of course he didn’t have any evidence to prove it; it was more so a fantasy of his than anything.

Rhys steps out of the shower after turning it off and let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t like to leave the house without taking a quick shower, even though this one happened to be a long one. It wasn’t his fault, really, since his mind was wandering. He dries himself off in the bathroom and walks over to his bedroom, which was just across the hall. He dresses in his regular Hyperion issued attire, then gives Vaughn a call.

\--

It's been about a week since Jack returned from the vault. Each day people tried to get a look at Jack, but none have succeeded. He stayed cooped up in his office, the only ones entering and leaving were the occasional doctor and his personal assistant. They weren’t there for company though, Rhys had thought. They were definitely there for the sake of his health. Rhys gave Jack a couple days alone, but after those days he tried to contact him (he was gentle about it) but was only turned down. Not rudely though, just a, “not today, pumpkin” or nothing at all. Rhys understood. He figured it was best to wait until he said the word.  
Each day he would slowly see lesser and lesser people trying to get in contact with Jack; it was as if they didn’t care anymore. How could they stop caring about their hero? About the person who brought the company back up, the one who created a new city for people to live, the one who fixed Helios? Rhys didn’t quite understand what was going on, until he happened to have heard rumours being spread by others in town.

Rhys was getting his morning coffee before work like he always did and overheard people talk back and forth; at first he didn’t care so much, but once he heard Jack’s name being mentioned multiple times is when he stopped and listened, though pretending not to.

“Did you _hear_ what he did? Jack’s a complete psychopath!”

“Killing innocent people; yeah, maybe that sort of thing happens on Pandora, but are we gonna talk about his _daughter?_ ”

Rhys stood near the table with his back to them, casually sipping on his coffee as he listened in.

“What are you talking about? Killing innocent people is still a big deal! He killed _babies_ even!”

“Not only babies, mothers too, people who surrendered to him even.”

How did they get this kind of information?

“Jack isn’t trying to keep us safe,” Rhys hears another group of people in the shop say. “He’s no hero at all.”  
Rhys couldn’t take much more of this, it was too painful to listen to; he wished he didn’t even hear any of this in the first place, but Rhys couldn’t seem to tear himself away from the rumours he was hearing.

“He’s just manipulative,” he hears some say.

“He’s not trying to protect us, he’s using us.”

“He’s absolutely insane.”

“He’s probably going to kill us all after he’s done whatever he wants to do.”

“He’s not a hero; he’s a bad person, I know it. He’s a bad father too.”

Rhys _really_ couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t the fact he was about to be late, which was true, but he just couldn’t stomach hearing any more terrible things said about his idol. Sure, he believed he killed lots of people. That’s what he did anyways, right? That was no different about him, so he didn’t see why it was all of a sudden an issue now. And _babies?_ Rhys didn’t believe that. He storms out of the coffee shop, his mood now completely ruined by that, and headed to work.

Rhys still couldn’t believe all the rumours he heard in the shop. He couldn’t understand exactly _why_ everyone was going crazy about the fact Jack was killing people. It would be more of a surprise if Jack didn’t kill anyone. And daughter? Jack never mentioned a daughter before… and what exactly _did_ he do to be such a horrible father? He never saw her before, maybe he locked her away? Killed her?

Rhys quickly shook his head. No, none of that could be true. Rhys refused to believe it. Despite his strong beliefs, Rhys couldn’t seem to get the thoughts out of his head. Manipulating? Using? Villain? It seemed unreal, but rather…likely. Rhys knew Jack wasn’t the nicest, or gentlest person in the universe, that was far too obvious, but he wanted to be known as a hero. He wanted to be the hero of Hyperion, he wanted to clean up Pandora of its bad people, maybe start a new life there for the good people. Rhys didn’t see anything bad in what he was doing; then again Jack only made the good in his plans public.

\--

More painful weeks pass. Jack is recovering, which is a joy overall, but from everything Rhys has been hearing from the civilians it didn’t feel all that joyful. Everyone was being a downer and it started to feel like everyone was losing hope of the CEO. He heard many more rumours, some small like, “he tortured humans for no given reason” to as large and absolutely ridiculous, “he’s an abuser who used us all just so he can be the selfish prick he always was”. What pissed off Rhys mostly was how dramatic and quick-to-change these guys were being. One moment they were worshiping Jack, and now they are hating on him as if the feeling was hidden inside of them since the beginning of time. It was ridiculous to Rhys when he saw just how quickly these guys turned on people they once adored.

“What’s up, bro?” Vaughn greets, startling Rhys as he blankly stared at his computer screen in his cubicle. Rhys looks up at him and opens his mouth to speak. He didn’t find any words, so instead he closed his mouth and gave a shrug.

“Nothing really,” he answered, looking back down at his blank screen. “A lot on my mind is all.”

“A lot as in Handsome Jack?” Vaughn teased, earning a small blush from the taller man.

“Well, yeah, actually,” he admits, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “Have you heard the rumours?”

Vaughn chuckles. “How couldn’t I have? No one will shut up about it.”

Rhys laughs with him. He was right; instead of the conversations at the fountain being about the men’s wives, or what they did over the weekend, it was talking shit about the CEO.

“Do you believe them?” He asked his friend, praying that his answer was a straight ‘no’, just like his own was. Unfortunately, Vaughn hesitates to answer. His smile faded and curled into an unsure frown. He was silent, then gave a shrug.

“Man, I- I don’t know.” He shrugged dramatically. “I mean, some of it seems true, you gotta admit that, right?”  
Rhys didn’t know how to respond. Was his own friend going against him too? His best friend, turning his back to Handsome Jack?

“Rhys.”

Rhys closed his eyes and shook his head. “Vaughn, I- I mean, you _know_ I can’t just…” He paused to collect his thoughts, making a heavy sigh. “Sure, the killing maybe, killing bandits on Pandora, but that is kind of to be expected, right?”

Vaughn stares at him for a bit, completely silent. He sighed heavily as well and pushed up his glasses with his index finger. “Rhys, I know it’s hard to accept this-“

Rhys interrupts him abruptly. “To _accept_ this?? To accept _what??_ ” He sat upright in his chair, his cheeks tinting a soft pink as his anger rose. “You can’t _possibly_ be believing all of this bullshit everyone’s saying, right? Jack said he wanted to be a hero. Jack is a hero. He went off to Pandora not for himself, but for the company. He was defending all of us, not being the selfish prick everyone’s saying he is. Can’t you see that?”

Once again, Vaughn was silent. He stared at Rhys, not once flinching as he had that little outburst. “I guess you’re right,” he mutters, clearly embarrassed about doubting Jack in front of Rhys, and for even saying anything in the first place. He still wasn’t 100% sure, as Rhys seemed to be, but he kept that to himself.

Rhys nods and sits back in his chair, trying to calm his fast being heart from his sudden scolding to his friend.

“I’m sorry,” they both say, practically at the same time. They exchange smiles and soft chuckles, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.

“So, what are we doing for lunch?”


	2. Chapter 2

The expectation Rhys had of Helios went completely south. He predicted they would have stopped by now, but no. Several weeks had gone by already, and people were still talking bad about their CEO. All this time Rhys had managed to keep in his rage, until a few nights ago.

He heard people planning on moving out; Rhys had no clue how they would do that, how it would even be _possible_ , but Rhys should have ignored it. Oh, how he should have just walked away. For the first time at work, other than his little outburst to Vaughn awhile ago, Rhys snapped. He snapped, and it was nothing like the outburst he had with Vaughn. This one was much more…violent in a way. Verbally violent, that is. Rhys knew better than to throw punches at his co-workers.

Rhys planned to tell Vaughn about the people he snapped at, but he figured it would be spreading rumours just like everyone else was. He was positive Jack knew about all the rumours; whenever he heard Jack make announcements over the PA system, he could just tell he was pissy and had been pissy for weeks, despite the fact that the announcements were small and brief.

Even though the outburst was a few days ago, Rhys still felt bad for doing so. He saw the surprise on the guys face and maybe even a bit of fear as he yelled and made partial threats. At that moment Rhys was convinced that this _good for nothing asshole_ deserved the fear and threats given, but as the hours went on, Rhys realized it was wrong. He shouldn’t have called him names, he shouldn’t have said he would regret the day he opened his mouth, and he definitely shouldn’t have said if Jack didn’t end up killing him, that he would.

Rhys sighs heavily and puts his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes in frustration. The more he thought of it, the way more he stressed about his actions. His reputation as well; he definitely wouldn’t be getting a promotion anytime soon or at all with that kind of mouth.

He tries to push the thoughts away because really, there was nothing he could do about it. Words cannot be taken back, things can’t be unsaid, as unfortunate as it was. He couldn’t take it back, and he sure didn’t want to apologize; it would hurt his pride, and he believed he didn’t have to say sorry anyways. The guy deserved it, the guy had it coming.

Rhys manages to get about half an hour of work in before he was interrupted by a woman who looked oddly familiar. He glanced up from his computer, the look on his face making it seem like he has been working for hours on end when really he was dealing with his internal conflict.

“Handsome Jack would like to see you,” is all the petite woman says once they made eye contact. Rhys’ expression changes from a stressed/man hard at work to complete surprise. Why did Jack want to see him? Out of all people? He couldn’t think of anything bad that he had done, other than what he was just ripping his hair out about, but he didn’t see a reason why Jack would be angry. Maybe it was because it was unprofessional of him.

Rhys nods to the woman and stands up, walking out of the room with her after he had pushed in his chair. He shoots glances at her every now and again as they made their way to Jack’s office. She was so oddly familiar because she was Jack’s personal assistant; that made sense. She didn’t seem as outgoing as she normally was, but Rhys assumed that was probably because of all the drama happening on Helios. He guessed Jack wasn’t treating her very well since he was most likely angry about what everyone was doing. Rhys knew Jack wasn’t one to exactly care what people thought of him, because he knew he was awesome and no one could tell him otherwise, but the fact that it was almost everyone who had an issue with him, it could affect the company. That was probably stressing him out to no end. The company seemed to be all that Jack had left, considering those bandits seemed to have taken everything else from him. It was quite sad, actually, the more Rhys thought about it.

The elevator doors slide open. Rhys glances over at Jack’s PA again, seeing her looking down at her feet with her arms crossed along her chest. Rhys looked away from her and stared forward at the wall slowly emerging as the elevator doors fully opened. Without looking, Jack’s PA started walking out of the elevator and down the narrow hallway toward the door to Jack’s office. Rhys followed right behind her, staring at the posters of Jack’s face staring down at him as he walked through. He listened to the clicking of her heels, which eventually came to a stop as she stopped in front of the door. She turned around and looked at Rhys.

“You may enter, sir,” she says, pressing the button to open the door, which he guessed would only open to the print of certain hands. “You know how he doesn’t like to wait.” She walks away from the door and over to the desk nearest Jack’s office, and finished off any work she had pending.

Rhys took a small breath and walked in, looking up from his feet to see Jack sitting in his chair at his desk, his hands folded in front of his mouth as his elbows rested against the table.

“Take a seat, kid,” Jack spoke suddenly, making Rhys jump slightly. Rhys quickly nodded and sat in the chair nearest to him, his back straight to make himself look professional and presentable.

Although Jack’s tone didn’t seem extremely sinister or rough enough to make him believe he was in trouble, Rhys still stressed about the fact that he just may be the next to be thrown out of an airlock, despite the fact he couldn’t have possibly done anything wrong. Rhys thinks to speak up and ask why he was here, but that would be a stupid question. Jack would tell him soon enough, right? Maybe not so bluntly, but surely Rhys would figure it out eventually.

Jack moves his hands down from his mouth and opened it slightly to speak, but then closed it, along with his eyes as he sighed heavily through his nose. Rhys folded his hands tightly in his lap to keep himself from shaking nervously.

“I’m pissed,” Jack announces after the silence, leaning back in his large chair. Rhys looked up from his lap to Jack, raising a brow slightly.

“I know what’s going on.” Jack leans forward once again, putting his elbows on his desk to look at Rhys. “I’d have them all thrown out in an instant but that would be like- all the friggin’ employees here.”  
Jack speaks to Rhys as if he knew exactly what he was talking about. Rhys does know what he’s talking about.

“You haven’t said anything, right Rhysie?”

The cybernetic man blinked, then quickly shook his head. “Of course I haven’t.”

Jack nods his head slightly. The movement was so slight Rhys barely registered it even happened.

“Heard you had a little… Tantrum, for lack of a better term.” Jack’s lips twitch as if he was trying to keep a smile hidden, which got even more difficult for him as Rhys’ cheeks turned a soft red. He doesn’t say anything, so Jack continues.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, just heard rumours about it, and I’m curious.” He pauses, figuring Rhys would have started to speak about it already, but he assumed he didn’t catch on. “Care to tell me about it?”

Rhys cleared his throat awkwardly and looked back down in his lap, his metal fingers twisting with his flesh ones. “I uh-“ He stayed silent for a few seconds to gather his thoughts. He knew he couldn’t be vague; if he was, Jack would ask question after question, which would get him frustrated. Rhys didn’t want to deal with an angry Jack today.

“I heard other workers spreading bad rumours, and I-I didn’t like that, so I uh, yelled at them.” Rhys swallowed thickly. “I called one guy a couple names, and told them that i-If you didn’t kill them, that I would… do it myself.”

Rhys’ cheeks flared up to a deep red, his metal fingers still twisting around his flesh ones. He looked down at his fingers, noticing they were going a bit red from the joints in his metal finger closing and pinching his skin. He was going to look back up at Jack, but once he heard him erupt in laughter he quickly made the decision that it was a much better idea to keep his face hidden.

“Oh, pumpkin.” Jack cleared his throat after his laughing fit. “I already knew what happened, I was just wanting to see if you’d actually say it.” He laughed a bit more. “I honestly can’t believe you said that.”

Rhys only shrugged and blushed more at that.

“Did they believe ya?” Jack leaned back in his chair, watching as Rhys slowly lifted his head. Rhys noticed Jack was smiling a bit more now.

“They uh, seemed pretty shocked.” Rhys chuckled nervously. “Shocked that I said it or that they thought you would actually come after them, I don’t know.”

Jack chuckled with him as he propped his feet up on his desk, clearly seeming a lot more relaxed than before. He let out a gentle sigh.

“Man, this shit has been stressing me out kiddo, I hate it.” He put his hands behind his head and leaned back a bit more. “I can handle name calling, like, I’ve dealt with it my whole freaking life, but not by people who are supposed to work for me. What if they go on strike?” Jack looked over at Rhys with an expression of fear mixed with anger. If the workers went on strike the company would plummet to the ground. It also wasn’t as if Jack could offer double the pay; Rhys guessed there was no money enough for these people to keep working for Jack after what they’ve been saying.

“If they go on strike, I’d be screwed.” Jack sighed angrily. “’Cause, y’know, I can’t exactly _make_ them work for me. I can threaten all I want, I can raise their pay all I want, but it won’t make them work.”  
Rhys continued to toy with his fingers, eyes still on Jack as he spoke.

“Y’know?”

Rhys nods.

“Jeez kiddo, speak to me, it feels like I’m talking to a brick wall.”

Rhys cleared his throat. “Sorry, sir.”

Jack waved it off as if it was nothing.

“I know what you’re saying sir.” Rhys pauses; what else was he supposed to say? “I don’t like what they’re doing, it’s not fair. You’re the one who gave them somewhere to live, to work-“

Jack cuts him off before Rhys could finish; he didn’t have much more to say anyways. “Exactly! Y’see what I’m saying? I did nothing but _good_ to them. I protected them, I don’t get it!”

Rhys continues to nod.

Jack continues to rant on, basically repeating himself but rewording it. Rhys listens, of course; his idol was spilling out his feelings to him right in his office. Eventually Jack stops, letting out a frustrated sigh. They sit in silence for some time; the tension was awkward.

“Is there anything I can do to help you, sir?” Rhys breaks the silence.

Jack looks up from his hands, which were rubbing his face rather intensely. “Well uh…” The king shifted in his seat. “I think you’re doing pretty well, princess. Y’know, sticking up for me an’ all. Still staying my biggest fan, right?” Jack chuckles a bit and flashes Rhys a wink, which causes the boy to flush red

Rhys notices how during their silent moments that Jack was staring at his body, occasionally licking his lips idly. If Rhys could read minds, he would definitely read that Jack was looking for some physical help rather than everything he was doing. Sex was a stress reliever, right? Maybe Jack called him in for some quick office sex, and Rhys would be on his way, having to pretend that nothing happened. It wouldn’t be bad for Rhys, though, since it was practically his _dream_ to have Jack pressed up behind him as he was bent over his large desk, having his ass fucked senseless by his hero, his idol. He practically craved for it. He knew Jack would be super rough with him; it was in his nature. Rhys didn’t want it any other way. It was exactly how he always imagined it, on those lonely nights when he couldn’t sleep, and all he had was the king stuck in his head.

Rhys had to get those thoughts out of his head. He knew Jack could read people like an open book. Eventually he would be able to tell that the blush on his face wasn’t from his teasing, but was from his sexual thoughts, and eventually he would see a possible boner pressed up against his half-striped pants. The cybernetic man cleared his throat and crossed one leg over the other. Oh, if that wasn’t making this any more obvious. Thankfully, Jack doesn’t make any comments.

“Well, Rhysie.” Jack claps his hands together, pulling Rhys back into reality. “The chat was nice, but I gotta get to work.” He smiled at him and stood up, waiting for Rhys to follow his actions, which he does after a few seconds delay. Rhys was about to extend his arm out for a handshake, but Jack leaves his desk and walks to Rhys, placing his hand on the small of his back.  
“Maybe we can chat again tomorrow, huh?” He spoke as he walked Rhys to his office door. Rhys nods in response.  
“Really nice chatting with ya, Rhysie cakes,” he says again, giving his ass a playful pat as well as his signature wink. Rhys gives a nervous, crooked smile, his cheeks flaring up once again. He walks out of his office, not daring to look back to give another smile, or a wave, or anything. His face was too red, and he knew it was noticeable, especially with the odd look he got from his PA as he speed-walked down the hallway away from the CEO’s office.

Was he serious about tomorrow? Or did he just say it, like most people did? Rhys figured he would have to wait until tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologizes if anyone doesn't enjoy reading about jack getting fingered

Thoughts of yesterday still ran through his brain. It was a little embarrassing, actually, considering barely anything _happened,_ but it still meant a lot to him. The more Rhys thought about it, the more he saw that the talk they had was Jack’s special way of saying thank you. Why else would he have called him in for? He seemed relatively nice as well, plus Rhys put him in a good mood. Jack actually _smiled,_ and not his shit-eating grins or anything like that, it was a genuine smile. It warmed Rhys up a bit. 

Rhys was yet to tell Vaughn. Apart from the fact Vaughn comes home later than Rhys, and that they had little to no time to talk in the morning, but Vaughn was turning into _one of them._ When Rhys thought of it like that, it felt like it was a slowly growing apocalypse; everyone was slowly being taken away, their brains being stolen by aliens and replaced with a new one, one that would much rather behave like a bandit than a Hyperion employee. He was sure if he told Vaughn about what happened with Jack he would get a lecture, or maybe scare the shit out of Vaughn. He imagined him saying stuff like, “He’s dangerous, Rhys!” or “Stay away from him, I don’t want you to be his next victim!” 

_His next victim._ Rhys scoffed. People are labelling him as a serial killer, which… Maybe he was, but he had reason, right? A reason which Rhys deemed acceptable; these people did wrong. They were rapists, serial killers, cannibals, maybe. They were a lot worse than people thought. Sure, Rhys hadn’t experienced bandits first hand, and he sure didn’t want to anytime soon, but the words and the proof were enough for him to agree they were bad. 

In Rhys’ small cubicle of an office at work, he had a few posters of Handsome Jack, which he called inspirational. He _had_ them, ‘had’ being the key-word since he took them down recently. The negative vibes from his co-workers only made things worse for him. The posters were more of an embarrassment than anything now. He kept getting dirty looks from people passing by; sometimes a shove, or a purposeful bump of the elbow to make him knock over his papers he was carrying. After he took down the posters, the “bullying” went down to a bare minimum, which was good, but it was bullshit that he had to hide who he actually was just so he wouldn’t get beat up. Rhys had brought the posters home and hung them up to the wall near his bed.

\--

“You’re still coming to lunch, right bro?” Vaughn asks, standing beside Rhys’ cubicle. Rhys must have lost track of time. 

“Yeah man, of course, when have I let you down?” Rhys looked over at him and forced a wide smile, which Vaughn bought. He smiles back to him. 

“Well get yer ass moving then, slowpoke, what’s taking you so long?” 

Rhys tidies up before standing and pushing in his chair. “Lost track of time,” he sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking alongside his shorter friend. 

Their walk to the cafeteria was mostly quiet. Rhys wasn’t exactly _avoiding_ Vaughn, he just found it slightly more difficult to talk to him. Vaughn noticed how Rhys was a lot quieter than he used to be; he’s told Rhys many times, “Don’t let my opinion keep us apart, bro” or something along the lines of that. Rhys had blocked it out, anyways. 

Much like the walk to the cafeteria, lunch was relatively quiet as well. The friends sat at a table in the far corner, eating sandwiches. Rhys pretended he was really hungry by taking another bite of his food right after he swallowed, which was his excuse for lack of talking. Vaughn eventually spoke up, clearly not buying his excuse. 

“So, I heard you got called down to Jack’s office.”

Rhys almost choked on his sandwich. 

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” 

Rhys put down his sandwich and shook his head while giving him a weird look. “No? Why would he? _I’m_ not doing anything wrong.”

Vaughn tried not to take it the wrong way, although it was somewhat difficult. “Then what did he want?”

Rhys looked down at his sandwich and almost out of bad habit picked it up to eat again, but he stopped himself. “He was giving me praise,” he said simply. “He’s happy to hear he at least as some workers who have some _sense_ left in their brain.” 

“Okay look, _chill_ bro. I’m sorry, alright?” Vaughn sighed and leaned over the table a bit. “I don’t want this crap to get between us. We’re still bros, right? I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” 

Rhys looked down at the table, staring at his sandwich as if he longed to eat it more than anything. “I know,” is what he mutters, letting out his own sigh as he realized how hard he had actually taken it. It was slightly pathetic, now that he thought about it. Vaughn didn’t even say any of the rude shit the others in Helios did. Vaughn was better than all of them would ever be, so he shouldn’t complain. He shouldn’t be so whiny. 

“You’re right.” Rhys lifts his head and looks at Vaughn. “I’m sorry for being a dick,” he said slowly, chuckling awkwardly afterwards. Vaughn smiles and accepts his apology. The rest of lunch was spent how they normally had it. Rhys had to learn to forgive and forget, especially since this had been bothering him for some time. Rhys forced himself to talk like old times, and eventually it grew on him. He had to let it go, Vaughn was by far the better one out of everything else, that is, unless he’s hiding more of his opinion, which could very well be true, but Rhys wanted nothing to do with that. 

\--

Rhys sat in his office after lunch, working away on whatever he had to work on. It was around the same time he was called down to Jack’s office yesterday, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He remembered Jack saying he’d see him tomorrow, he’d chat _tomorrow,_ which was **today.** Rhys was almost bouncing with excitement in his seat. The mere thought of leaving his work and going to Jack made him more excited than anything, for some reason. It was just a chat; he shouldn’t be so excited. It wasn’t like Rhys talked as much as Jack did, if he even opened his mouth at all. He guessed he just enjoyed the idea of Jack opening up to him and caring about him, as Rhys thought. 

He remembered how tense Jack was in his office yesterday. He also remembered how he thought Jack wanted him in there for some physical relief. Rhys wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he wanted that _so bad._ He wanted to have Jack pin him down onto his desk and fuck him senseless, all while growling dirty phrases in his ear.

Rhys imagined Meg coming to his cubicle, just like she did yesterday, and telling him Jack would like to see him. He would make his way over to Jack’s office, and once the door closed after he entered, Jack would lock the door and tell him to take off his clothes, because Handsome Jack was going to have some _fun._

This was wildly inappropriate for him to think about while at work, basically out in the open, but he couldn’t exactly stop himself. 

He then thought of something else. Instead of coming in and having Jack take over, maybe Rhys would take over. If he were to be called into the office again, he would drop to his knees before him and _whine_ like a slut to suck his dick. Jack wouldn’t refuse that. Jack was tense, plus Rhys figured Jack was far to busy with work to have sex. At least, that’s what Rhys hoped.

Just as Rhys was about to continue fantasizing more, he heard someone clear their throat before him. His eyes widened slightly and he quickly looked up to find Meg, standing in front of him.

“Handsome Jack would like to see you again, Rhys.”

It was almost the same as the other day. 

\--

The door slides open for Rhys as he approaches, just like it did the other day. Instead of finding Jack at his desk with his head in his hands, he finds Jack standing in front of his window, gazing out at all the stars and planets that were visible. Jack doesn’t turn around as Rhys walks in, his heels clicking against the hard floor. He could have been mistaken for Meg, he thought to himself, which made him blush a bit. 

“Rhys?” 

Jack turned his head and looked over his shoulder, but turned his head to the window again once he saw it was Rhys. “Howsa going, kiddo?” 

Rhys walks up a bit closer and shrugs, but realizes he can’t exactly see him. “I’m doing alright.” He walks over to the chair in front of his desk and sits down, crossing his arms along his chest. “How are you holding up with things?” 

Jack snorts. “Yer talking as if I’ve been crying myself to sleep every night.”

Rhys frowned and glanced down at his lap.

The CEO walked over to his own chair and plopped down into it, crossing one leg over the other. “I’m fine, Rhys, it’s whatever. Nothing to worry about.” 

Rhys looked up at him from his lap. He shifted in his chair a bit, feeling his cheeks turn a soft pink at his thoughts from earlier. Was Jack tense? He hoped he was tense. Rhys didn’t want to drop down to his knees in front of him and whine for a blowjob when he wasn't even tense; he also didn’t want to admit to himself he wanted to give Jack a quick blow today, but he also wasn’t going to deny it. It felt wrong, and it felt like he shouldn’t be thinking these things, let alone actually _doing_ said thoughts.

“Whatcha thinking about, kiddo?” Jack asks with a chuckle, making Rhys look straight at him. His cheeks flushed red, his mouth slightly ajar. 

“I, uh.. Nothing sir, it’s nothing.” He shifted in his chair once again. 

Jack stared at him blankly, then nodded. “Alllrighty.” 

Rhys only blushed more. 

“Well. Anyways, I wanted to kill this one group of guys today, _god_ were they ever pissing me off!” Jack laughs as he speaks. “Of course, I didn’t do anything, since they were talking about how its somehow _bullshit_ that I kill employees because I feel like it. I don’t do it because I FEEL like it, I do it because they deserve it! There’s a difference!” 

Rhys barely listens this time around as Jack rants on, starting with laughter then dying down to obvious annoyance. He was far too deep into his thoughts of giving Jack that blowjob. 

“I mean—they don’t _know_ me, they can’t assume what I do and not do and just _tell_ everybody.” Jack scoffed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Rhys notices that, which makes his heart flutter. Rhys had been there for maybe twenty minutes already, so maybe now was the time? Was now his chance? 

Jack continues to rant on angrily, his voice booming louder as each sentence passes. He seemed pretty distracted, which is when Rhys makes his move. He takes a deep breath, and exhales. 

“I _hate_ these ba—wooah, kiddo, whatcha doing?” 

While Jack had ranted Rhys stood and swiftly walked over and dropped to his knees beside Jack. Jack turns his chair, so now his crotch was in his face. Rhys looks up to answer, but no words came out. He opens his mouth slightly to speak, but all that came out was a crack in his voice, which definitely sounded like some kind of whine. Great. 

Jack stares down at Rhys with a blank expression, which eventually broke into a wide grin and an eruption of laughter. Rhys looks down, his face redder than it’s ever been in front of Jack. The laughter coming from Jack was absolutely humiliating. He was halfway to standing up, but Jack’s hand on top of his head stops him-- actually, it pushes him right back down to his knees. 

“Nuh uh kitten, you went down to do it, now you’re gonna stay.” Jack pulls his hand away. “Show me what you were gonna do, princess.” 

Rhys looks up at him and swallows hard, fiddling with his fingers. Eventually he takes a breath in and exhales, nodding and muttering a soft ‘okay’ before shuffling over a little closer. There was no backing out now, and Jack made that clear. Rhys reached out in front of him and started to undo his belt, which took a little more time than he would have liked, but Jack didn’t do much about it. Rhys opens up his belt, then started to unbutton his pants. Once he opens up his pants, he was met with a slight surprise that Jack was commando. 

Rhys looks up. “Seriously?” 

Jack only smirks and gives a shrug as he stares down at him almost dreamily.

Rhys blushes and looks back down, slowly and carefully pulling his flaccid cock out of his pants. As he inhales through his nose, he wraps his fingers around the shaft and strokes upwards, not getting any much of a hint that Jack was aroused by this. Why would he? Rhys wasn’t doing anything special, really. Honestly, Rhys kind of hoped Jack would have been hard before he opened up his pants. 

Rhys looks up at Jack, seeing he was staring down at him with an anything but amused expression. Rhys bites his lip and looks back down, starting to rub his hand up and down his shaft again. 

“C’mon kiddo, spice it up a bit,” Jack speaks suddenly, which startles Rhys just a bit. 

“I’m trying, I’m trying.” Rhys panics a bit. He rubs his shaft a little faster, soon feeling Jack start to harden up a bit in his grasp. He slides his hand up and presses his thumb against his tip, rubbing back and forth in a slow manor. Here and there Rhys glances up, seeing that Jack’s expression hasn’t really changed. Jack was hard to please, he supposed. 

Jack was only half hard, but Rhys wanted to get to the good part. He held onto his shaft and leaned in, wrapping his lips around his tip and sucking gently as if it were one of those small lollipops. Earlier Jack wasn’t making a whole lot of noises, but now Jack made a slight grunting noise. At least Rhys was making him feel good in a way. 

Rhys takes just a bit more of Jack into his mouth, sucking slowly and bringing his head up a bit, then sinking right back down to where he was. Jack inhales sharply through his nose as he stares at Rhys. 

Rhys tugs on his pants a bit, pulling them down to his knees. He put his hand on Jack’s balls and slowly rubbed them with his palm, hoping to get some sort of reaction from Jack. Rhys rubs his finger along the bottom of his balls, then slid it back to rub the skin behind him, which makes Jack suck his breath in through his teeth. Rhys smirks slightly around his tip and pushed his fingers further back to somewhere else.

“Don’t you even think about that,” Jack says, his cock twitching in his mouth. Rhys glanced up, seeing that his face was turning red, even under his mask. He liked it, clearly, with the way his cock completely hardened and how red his face was.

Rhys smirks a bit more. “Seems to me you liked that, sir.” When did he get this ballsy? 

Jack glares down at him, but doesn’t respond. 

“Can I do it?” 

No response. 

“C’mon, handsome, did you see the way your dick reacted to that?” 

Jack shifts in his chair, still not responding. 

Rhys hums in thought. Jack definitely seemed like the type to like whining and begging. 

_“Pleease,_ Jack,” he whines softly, pressing his lips against his shaft. “Please let me-“ 

_“Fine._ The lubes in… the drawer beside you.” Jack huffs. “And. D-Don’t use yer friggin’ robot arm.” 

Rhys almost cheers, but he kept that in. He moves his face and hands way from his obviously dripping cock, and searches for the lube in the drawer. Once he found it, he brought it back to Jack, who was still blushing and avoiding eye contact with Rhys. 

“Do you wanna stay here?” He asks, putting his face back up near his cock. “Or do you want to go somewhere more comfortable?” 

Jack grunts in response. What a big baby.

Rhys shrugs, assuming they were just staying here. He opens up the bottle of lube and squeezes some onto his flesh fingers, then moving over back to Jack. Surprisingly, Jack raises himself up a bit for Rhys as he moves back. He presses his slick fingers against Jack’s hole, feeling how it almost immediately rejected his touch. Jack inhales through his nose and squirms a bit in his seat. While he seemed a bit distracted, Rhys starts sliding in his index finger. Jack gasps and raises his hips a bit.

“J-Jesus, Rhys! Don’t you have any patience?” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Rhys pulls out a bit, only keeping his tip in. Once Jack relaxed around his finger, he slowly pushed it in and out until it was all the way in. Rhys glances up at Jack, seeing he was still looking away, but he was panting a bit. The company man leans in and takes his tip back into his mouth, slowly lowering his head as his finger worked in and out inside of Jack. 

The most surprising part out of it all was that Jack actually let him do this in the first place. Other than that, Jack wasn’t pushing him away at all when Rhys actually does go and do it. Jack seemed the kind who wouldn’t take anything inside of him. He seemed to be so dominant over others, it was a wonder Jack agreed to let him do this. He guessed this was one of the many secrets Jack had hidden up his sleeve. 

Rhys bobs his head up and down, his lips tight and wet around his shaft. He pushes down, almost all the way, then pulls his head back up close to his tip, then back down again. While he did this he pushed his finger in and out of Jack’s ass, just a bit slower than how fast his mouth was working. Eventually Jack seemed to loosen up and actually show he was enjoying it. Jack’s pants and low moans were everything Rhys had imagined them to be. Just hearing them had Rhys immediately hard in his pants. 

“Jesus fuck, kiddo,” he hears Jack growl out here and there. Sometime during the blow Rhys had pushed in his middle finger, now using two fingers inside of Jack as he worked on his cock. Rhys’ gag reflex wasn’t super sensitive, so he assumed he could go a little further down. 

Rhys pushes down his head a bit further, his nose brushing up against Jack’s pubic hair. Clearly that brought some pleasure to Jack; he bucked his hips up a bit, his tip poking the back of his throat. Involuntarily, Rhys swallows, which made Jack let out a moan which sounded a lot more natural, a bit higher than his actual moans. Rhys glances up, seeing that his face was beet red, as well as his neck. Jack quickly presses his hand to his mouth, embarrassed by such a sound. Rhys goes back to the task at hand. 

Rhys pushes his fingers deeper into Jack and curls them slightly. He pulled back and pushed back in rather quickly, making more precome leak out of Jack’s tip. Rhys continued to bob his head and finger Jack in perfect rhythm with each other. 

This was _better_ than what he had imagined in his head. The way Jack looked so pleasured yet embarrassed at the same time was a wonderful look for him. His face was so red, and his forehead glistened with sweat. It was a shame Jack had to hide his blushing face with his mask. Rhys pressed his cybernetic hand against his own crotch, rubbing himself inside of his pants, which made him moan and vibrate against Jack’s cock. Jack makes another one of those moans, which sounded muffled because of his hand. Rhys would have bothered him to move his hand away, but he was way too in the zone at the moment. Plus, he didn’t think Jack would have listened. 

As Rhys bobs his head, he makes sure to push down as far as he was able to go so he could feel his cock pulsing against his tongue and on the back of his throat. He kept his fingers working in and out of his ass rather quickly and sloppily, which made him brush up against a spot rather roughly by accident.

“Oh, fuck sakes Rhys!” Jack gasps, bucking his hips up and immediately coming down the boy’s throat. Judging by the reaction, Rhys assumed he hit his prostate. Rhys kept his fingers still as well as his head, allowing his semen to shoot into his mouth. Once he was finished and twitching, Rhys swallows all he could handle and pulled away, his eyes watering from keeping in his gags. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve after he pulled out his fingers from Jack and looked up at him, seeing him with his eyes closed and head back as he panted for breath. Rhys continued to whimper and palm at his crotch, wanting so badly to come, but he saw he didn’t exactly have enough time now. 

They sat in silence, the only sound really being heard was their gentle pants.

“Well.” Jack breaks the silence, his voice back to normal as if nothing happened. He stood up and pulled up his pants, buttoning them up. He walked over to Rhys, who stood up once he was close enough. “You should head back to work, pumpkin. Thanks for that.” He gives Rhys a smirk.

Rhys smiles back and goes to walk away, but Jack grabs his arm and yanks him back to him roughly. 

“Don’t think this is over,” he hissed in his ear. “I’m gonna get you, Rhys. It’ll be pay back.” 

Rhys flushes dark and feels himself twitch in his pants. Jack pulls away and smirks again, patting his back and leaving to sit in his chair again and do some work. Rhys quickly leaves, his hands over his crotch to hide his painfully obvious boner. 

Rhys was fucked. He knew he shouldn’t have gone that far, why did his confidence always do that to him? It always put him in such a bad place. 

Instead of going back to his floor, he turns and heads straight to the bathroom to fix his little problem in his pants.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took awhile, guys, i was going through exams and heavy writers block. but here it is!
> 
> special thanks to handsome-jacks-biceps on tumblr for helping me out with the plot of this chapter <3

When Jack told him he was going to get him, which was his own way of being threatening, Rhys assumed it was going to be today. He didn’t know if it was an assumption or a hope, but he wanted it to be today because he managed to get his hopes up. He got Jack off, insanely so, considering he gave him a blow and fingered him, but he never got a chance to get off. Of course, he did beeline straight to the bathroom and jerked off harder than he’s ever had in his life and had quite the orgasm himself, but it wasn’t from Handsome Jack. Technically, he was thinking about Jack and whimpering his name against his cybernetic hand, but it wasn’t actually from Jack. And that’s what he wanted. That’s what he was excited for. But it never came. 

It didn’t come the day after Rhys blew him, it didn’t come the day after that, or the day after that. It was giving him confusing, excited boners during that “special” time at work, which were kind of pissing him off now. But as the days went on, he didn’t see Jack—or rather, Meg coming to tell him Jack wanted him, since he never came out in the open on his own. Although it pissed him off that Jack never appeared, he guessed he was going to “seek revenge” when he forgot about it and least expected it. That was reasonable, he thought. He actually liked it that way better. 

Rhys was actually quite proud of himself with that blowjob he gave him. He gave himself a mental pat on the back, which was a bit embarrassing, but he was proud. Normally he would tell others about the amazing things he’s done, but he assumed going around telling his friends that he gave Handsome Jack an amazing blowjob wouldn’t be such a good idea, especially considering the fact that everyone kind of hated him at the moment. Plus, who willingly wants to hear about someone’s sex life? 

At this point, it was barely even a thought in his mind anymore. Sure, it still lingered there, but more so in the back of his mind. Only occasionally he thought of it, but once he did he pushed it away instantly, as if Jack could read his mind and would only creep up when he was completely oblivious. 

Rhys was at the small café he normally went to to buy a coffee. He was on his first break of the day and was still technically waking up from this morning. He ordered a large coffee with two sugars added and two milks, which was brought to him quickly, just how he liked it. Especially at this moment; he wasn’t in the mood for waiting. He really needed that coffee. 

Rhys walks over to sit down at the table, coffee in hand. He takes a small sip and tries not to make any facial expressions that would show he just burned the tip of his tongue. He sets his coffee down on the table and puts his arm out to grab the chair he stood beside, but before he could pull it out and sit down, he felt someone press up against him and corner him to the table. He let out a noise; a squeak or a shout, he didn’t know. He felt whoever it was press against his neck and breathe against it. The hot breath sent shivers down his spine, and smelling the familiar smell only made it worse. 

“Hey, kiddo.” 

Rhys was pretty sure it was him, because who else would do something like that to him? Also, no one smelled as good as Handsome Jack. In his opinion, anyways. 

“H-Hey, Jack,” he replies, feeling his heart race and heat flow to his face. 

“Got yerself a coffee, huh?” Jack comments, shifting in his place and putting his hands on his hips. He seemed to be in a good mood, which was a new change, considering Jack hadn’t left his office since this whole thing started. Rhys smiled and tilted his head just a bit as he felt more of is hot breath against his skin. 

“How about you come to my office after you’re done your break, kiddo? Sound like a good idea?” Rhys felt Jack smirk against his neck. “Of course it does.” 

Before Rhys could respond, or even react, Jack was gone, leaving him a blushing, hot, shaking mess. 

\--

After Jack left, Rhys sat down and practically chugged his coffee, despite the burning sensation on his tongue and in his throat. He only drank half of it, but he didn’t care. The coffee wasn’t too good anyways. He tossed the rest and head out to Jack’s office, even though his break wasn’t even done yet. 

He went through the same process as the last time he went to Jack’s office; walk through the halls, which were packed with people, and made it to an elevator to bring him up to Jack’s office, then walk down the fairly long hallway (passing his PA), then standing before his large doors. Once he made it, the doors slid open, as if Jack knew he was going to be here early, and if Jack could read people, it was easy to tell Rhys would arrive early. 

“Rhysie!” Jack called, who was sitting in his office chair, lounging back and resting his feet on his desk. He pushed himself away from his desk and rolled back so he could stand, which he does. Jack walks to Rhys, and Rhys walks too, which had them meeting right at the side of Jack’s desk. 

“We need to have a little chat,” Jack says, in a much huskier tone than Rhys had heard before. Rhys glanced down to find Jack’s hands roaming up his chest, then his hands sliding down his vest. Jack gripped onto his vest and tugged him closer so their stomachs could touch. 

“W-What about, sir?” 

“You.” 

“M-Me?” 

“Ye-ees, Rhys, yes, you. I want to talk about you.” Jack tugged on the top part of Rhys’ vest, making his face move closer to Jack’s. “I like you, kid. You have potential, you know that?”  
Rhys couldn’t help but blush. He stays quiet, though. 

“We all know you’re a total fanboy. My fanboy, and I sure as hell intend to keep it that way.” Jack’s grip doesn’t dare move from his vest. “Y’see, you’re such a good boy, Rhys. You are still my number one fan, and holy shit Rhys, I’d be able to tell it from miles away. Just look at you, baby. You’re different from them all, aren’t you? They want to be me. You? You want me, and that’s it.” 

The praise made arousal stir in Rhys’ stomach. He blushed more and squirmed under his touch, which only made Jack press closer against his body, eventually making Rhys press against the side of his desk. He knew Jack still had more on his mind. Anyone who spent five seconds with Jack knew that. 

Jack speaks again with a large grin plastered on his handsome face. “I can tell you want me, pumpkin, even a freaking baby would be able to tell. It’s not a bad thing, though, no-ho sir. It’s a good thing, because I just so happen to want you too.” 

The last bit of Jack’s sentence made Rhys’ heart stop and his stomach go in knots. Handsome Jack? Want him? But why- 

Before Rhys could even begin protesting, Jack’s lips were pressed against his. All of Rhys’ thoughts and questions completely drained away once he felt Jack’s lips work on his. Rhys closed his eyes and instantly kissed back, his arm raising to have his flesh hand comb through his hair, and his cybernetic hand go to his boss’ jacket. 

“Jack-“ he gasped against his lips when they parted for just a second to gain their breath. Jack tilts his head to the side and smashed his lips back onto Rhys’, this kiss being much more passionate and rough than the one earlier. Rhys closed his eyes and kissed back just as hard and passionately, but he allowed Jack to take over. He felt Jack lift him onto the desk, then guide him down until his back was on top of the desk, and Jack was on top of him. He felt himself grow painfully hard in his pants, and he let that happen, because he wasn’t afraid to have Jack know he was hard. It would only boost his ego, which was extremely sexy. 

To Rhys, anyways. 

Jack removed Rhys’ vest and tossed it aside. He went straight back to kissing Rhys, hands in his hair and tugging on it, making it a complete mess than how he normally had his hair. Rhys let out a whine against Jack’s lips and moved both of his hands to his hair, gripping onto it for dear life. 

Jack could tell this was going to be good. The way Rhys was already hard and squirming against him like a silly virgin. Maybe he was one, who knew? Lucky kid though, if he was a virgin. The CEO moved his head away, just to look down at Rhys while he was in between his legs. The boy’s face was completely red and he was panting, arms now laying limp near his head as he stared right back up at him. The flushed boy made arousal stir in his own gut. Holy shit, he thought to himself, why didn’t he try and get into the boy’s pants earlier? 

The CEO moved his hands to his chest and went to untie his red tie, eventually getting it off and tossing it away to where his vest laid. Jack went right back to kissing him after that. His fingers fiddled with the boy’s shirt buttons as their lips pressed against each other. 

“Oh Jack,” Rhys moaned softly against his lips. Jack yanked him up into a sitting position and started to kiss him that way. He stood between his legs, stroking his chest and slowly popping open the buttons…

He hears his ECHO-comm go off on his desk.

Jack opened his eyes and glanced to the side, seeing that it was his PA trying to get in contact with him. He parted his lips from Rhys and pressed the button to answer. 

“What is it?” 

“Sir, someone is here to speak with you.” 

Rhys put his hands on Jack’s chest and planted open mouth kisses on his neck. Jack tilts his head and lets his eyes flutter shut. 

“Tell him to get lost, I’m kinda busy here.” 

“He say’s it’s urgent, sir.” 

Jack pauses for a few seconds, feeling how Rhys’ lips still didn’t stop working on his neck. 

“He really needs to speak with you, sir-“ 

“Alright, alright, let him in.” 

Rhys stops his kissing and pulled away once he heard the office door open. Jack would have told him to continue marking up his neck, but if his PA insisted it was an important call, he figured he actually had to pay attention to the guy. Jack walks away from Rhys, arms crossed along his chest, clearly upset with the fact that his little fun time was interrupted.

The company man turned his body to look over at the man who had just walked in. He looked like one of the employees who were higher up on the company latter. He crossed one leg over the other to hide his formed erection.

“Now what is it that’s so important that you just have to waste my time?” Jack asks, his tone louder and more anger filled than it was when Rhys just walked in. The man cleared his throat and folded his hands behind his back. 

“It’s important, sir, and I know you’d want to hear it-“ 

“Then spit it out, oh my god!” Jack looked back at Rhys and let out a chuckle. “Can you believe this friggin’ guy?” 

Rhys flashed a small smile back at Jack. 

The man tried to ignore Jack’s condescending behaviour. “I work in the communications division and upon daily inspection I found certain files,” he explained, which had Jack’s attention, even if it was just half of it. “I found that there are certain people trying to mess with Hyperion’s major divisions; gun management, the eridium mines, R&D, that kind of stuff.” 

Rhys felt his heart drop to his stomach. 

“What?” Jack barked, taking a step closer. His facial expression showed that the man had his full attention. “Who the frig is messing with me?” 

“I don’t know them all personally, but with the files showed people’s Hyperion ID with it. Workers were trying to hack into the system and drain out information about these divisions and black mail you.” 

“And where the hell did you figure this out?” 

The man shifted in his spot. “No one told me that for sure, I just assumed that’s what they were planning on doing, since the files showed they hacked the system to lower the firewalls to get the information.” 

“Who are they? Gimme their IDs.” Jack felt his heart racing in his chest. Everything was going well, why did something have to fuck up? Why now? 

Upon request, the man presents Jack a couple pieces of paper which had a list, in alphabetical order, of everyone’s IDs who tried to hack into the server. Jack grabbed it from his hands and started reading through the list. He found that none of the worker IDs were anyone from this mans division, or anyone who worked for him directly. As he looked deeper through, it seemed to him that the workers were people who worked in said divisions; it ranged from measly code monkeys to the boss of the whole division. It wasn’t until Jack read a certain name is when he got truly angry. 

Jack looked back at Rhys with such intensity and anger Rhys could have sworn he felt the colour drain from his face as if it melted off from extreme heat. The CEO walks toward him and stops directly in front of him. 

“You’re on the fucking list?” Jack hissed in his face, holding up the paper to show Rhys. His thumb was located just at his ID. Rhys’ eyes widened in surprise when he read the paper. 

“J-Jack, I—“ 

“I can’t believe you, Rhys!” Jack screamed in his face, throwing the papers to the ground, not once breaking eye contact from Rhys. “I thought I could TRUST you! Stupid me though, right?” Jack laughs out laugh; a forceful, loud, angry laugh. “Just when I thought I could trust someone when the whole company is slowly crashing down all around me. Just when I thought you would act differently. Fuck, Rhys, I thought you had potential!” 

Jack felt the back of his eyes start to burn. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry even. Cry from frustration, not from sadness. Cry from how freaking angry this made him feel. He had just opened up to Rhys. Even though the feelings he showed seemed more possessive and manipulative than anything, Jack was serious. He actually saw potential in Rhys, he actually thought he was different from all the rest.  
The CEO grabs Rhys’ shirt and tugs him off the desk, holding the thinner boy up with just his hands gripping onto his shirt collar. 

“How long were you planning on keeping this up?” Jack hissed at Rhys, his face centimetres away from his face. “Better question, why would you even do this to me? After all I’ve done? For the company, for you freaking workers?” 

Rhys gripped onto Jack’s wrists and whimpered as he was held up by Jack, who was fuming and yelling in his face. “J-Jack, please, Jack it’s not true, I wouldn’t do something like that!” 

Jack drops the boy, who immediately fell to his knees before him. Jack pointed at the papers scattered on the ground. “It’s right there, Rhys, black and white, on fucking paper!”

Rhys trembled in his spot, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t do any of it, what reason did he have? He was loyal to Jack, a loyal fan. He had been busy working to make the company better, too busy working that he didn’t have a single chance to do any of that. 

“I wouldn’t do that to you, Jack!” He pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks. He whimpered and tried to keep his tears back, but it just kept coming. “I’m not even capable of doing something like that! I can barely hack a simple machine, let alone a whole company!” 

Jack didn’t seem to be buying any of this. 

“Jack, p-please, I want you to believe me, I didn’t do it!” He shook as he tried to talk through his sobs, which nearly made him unintelligible. “Please Jack, please, I promise, I promise I wouldn’t do it…” His voice trailed off as Jack walked away, leaving him a sobbing, blubbering mess on the floor of his office. 

Jack didn’t have time to listen to Rhys’ excuses. He had been through far too many situations similar to this; he’s heard all the excuses in the whole damn world, so he sure as hell wouldn’t believe Rhys if he said something as simple as “I didn’t do it”. Anyone could say that. Anyone who could speak and understand English would be able to say that. 

“Come with me,” he growled to the employee in his office as he passed him, who was standing back with his head down as Jack unleashed his wrath at Rhys. He nodded and turned around, following Jack who stomped straight out of his office. 

Rhys had no idea where Jack was going with the employee. To kill him? To beat answers out of him? He had no clue, honestly. He wasn’t even thinking straight at the moment. He pushed himself up to stand up straight. He wobbled a bit, head heavy and dizzy from how much he had cried. It was embarrassing, actually, how much he cried in front of Jack. He rubbed his eyes and walked, not even sure where he was going, but he was too drained to care or even think. 

He felt his foot hit against something as he walked. He stumbled a bit and moved his hands from his eyes, looking down and seeing it was one of the ugly chairs Jack had in his office, left for someone to sit in while they talked. It was stupid to have it there. No one took a seat when they came to talk to Handsome Jack. Jack didn’t even offer anyone a seat, unless it was the final moments of their life. 

“Stupid chair,” he muttered to himself, kicking the chair over. He hissed slightly at the sudden pain in his toe when he kicked the hard plastic-looking chair. He looked down at his boot and saw that the kick made the toe of his boot bend. Great, now his boots were ruined, as well as his job, his home, probably EVERYTHING else too. 

Rhys left the chairs and walked over to the overly large window, staring out at Elpis. He had no idea at all how he was going to convince Jack he didn’t do it. It wasn’t like he could have an alibi or something like that, considering the male had Hyperion cybernetics built inside of him. He could easily hack into the network anywhere he went, without any equipment. Though, he didn’t have the skills, or any of the upgrades in his system to be capable of doing something like that, which wasn’t exactly easy to prove to the CEO. Even if it was, Jack didn’t seem in the mood to be patient enough to scan through his hard drive. He might just stab a screwdriver into his ECHO-port, wiggle it around and scrape the edges along the walls of his skull and call it a day. The thought made him feel sick to his stomach. 

\--

If looks could kill, Jack definitely would have burned down all of Hyperion already. He stomped through the halls with the employee following suit, looking terrified and almost full of regret for telling Jack what he found, but honestly, it was better in the long run. If he just let it be, all of Hyperion could come crashing down, and not only would he and hundreds of others be without a job, but they would be without a home. Jack was smart, right? He could fix this. 

Jack made the employee take him back to his division, where computers and computers are placed next to each other. Almost everyone in the division cowered at the sight of him, which was a regular thing for him, but at this moment Jack couldn’t enjoy it whatsoever. He was beyond pissed. 

He used the man’s computer, which was head of the division, and started to look around at each file the male was talking about. It took a couple hours or so; Jack could have sat there longer to look at everything, but he couldn’t risk something like that happening. 

“We’re going into lockdown,” he tells the employee, as they walk down the hall yet again. The man didn’t dare protest, he knew better than to try. 

\--

“Bro, are you okay?” 

It was relieving to hear a familiar voice again. Rhys held the phone closer to him as he curled up behind Jack’s desk. 

“I’m fine,” he spoke, sniffling here and there. He hadn’t really stopped crying. He stopped the pathetic wails he had in front of Jack, but the tears were still watering and sliding down his cheeks.

“Are… Are you sure? It sounds like you’re crying-“

Rhys barely got a reply in. The signature jingle played before a broadcasted announcement started. This couldn’t be good. 

“Oh no,” Rhys whimpered under his breath, clutching the phone tighter in his hand. 

“Hello, Hyperion,” Jack starts off over the PA system. Rhys closed his eyes tightly and curled up in a tighter ball. He didn’t sound happy at all.  
“I’ve been informed that a few of you fuckos have been trying to screw me over. Don’t you dare try to get to me in any way to come and kiss my ass, because I’m NOT taking it. I know you dickbags are fucking things up, you can’t tell me otherwise.

“And don’t you dare try to leave Helios, because that is not going to happen.” Jack chuckles a bit. “I can go into lockdown a lot faster than you idiots can get your stupid asses into a freaking pod and fly the fuck out of here.” 

Sounds of screaming and panicking people could be heard all around Helios, hell even Rhys could hear some of it, and he was all the way in Jack’s office. 

“Rhys, what the hell is he talking about?” Rhys can hear Yvette ask loudly in the background. Rhys started to shake, barely able to form words. He was dead, god he was so dead. 

“If I catch any of you trying to leave Helios, which I will, oh ho, you’d be so lucky if I killed you right on the spot.” 

Jack ends it as that, and before Rhys knew it, Jack slammed on the button to go into lockdown, and soon everything was shut off. The lights, the phone signals, electronics… The windows were even protected by a large, metal wall. Rhys whimpered and practically dropped his phone. The last thing he heard from his two best friends were them calling out his name and pleading him to tell them what was going on. Unfortunately, Rhys himself hardly had a clue as to what was going on. All Rhys knew was that if he didn’t find a way to show his innocence in the next—what he guessed to be an hour or so, he was dead. So fucking dead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another special thanks to handsome-jacks-biceps; you're the best, man

Absolute chaos broke out; people were screaming, people were panicking, people were rounding up as much as they could and make a mad dash to the escape pods. Despite the fact Jack said there was no use running, none of the employees listened. There was pushing and shoving, person after person trying to get through and into a pod to get the _fuck_ out as fast as they could since there wasn’t enough pods for everyone on the station. 

About three employees managed to get into the pods merely seconds after Jack made his announcement. They strapped in with their shaky hands then slammed their fist against the button to shoot themselves out. 

And that’s when everything went black.

The employees captured in the pods went into hysteria, legs kicking, fists flying, trying to get out, but the pods wouldn’t open being the fact that every single thing on Helios was shut down due to the lockdown Jack initiated. They were fucked, and they knew it. Other employees who were around to see what happened quickly dashed away before Handsome Jack came and unleashed his wrath.  
At this point, the captured workers were sobbing, trying to swallow their fate and curl up to hide themselves, praying to whatever God that was out there that it was far too dark for Jack to see them cowering in the pods. 

“You _assholes!”_

Jack came stomping through, with the special employee trailing behind him like a dog would to their owner. He had two Hyperion pistols, one in each hand, both yellow and white with red accents along the sharp edges of the gun. Jack walked fast, blue and green eyes darting back and forth as if he was searching for employees; he was in this section, though, since it was the hallway where all the escape pods were. He stared at each one as he passed, trying to make out any figures. He passed one after another, eventually stopping at a certain one. He could have sworn he saw something, and a soft whimper that came from the pod confirmed it so. With the butt of his pistol, Jack smashed the glass as hard as he could, which had the female employee let out a scream from inside. 

“Now, what did I say, sweetcheeks?” He asked in a deep, husky tone as he reached in and grabbed the female’s hair. She continued to whimper and scream as Jack yanked on her perfectly styled blonde hair to pull her up from the pod. 

Jack’s sharp brows furrowed at the response he _didn’t_ get. 

“When I ask you a question,” Jack started off with a bite to his tone. He slid his pistol into his thigh holster and used his free hand to grip onto her neck. “You better damn well _ANSWER ME,_ you SLUT!” The CEO squeezes the woman’s neck, which made it next to impossible for her to answer. 

“Y-You said… No… E-Escaping,” she managed to say between gasps for breath. 

“Or I’ll _kill_ you,” Jack finished off for her. With that he threw her back into the pod. He pulled out his other pistol from his holster and aimed both guns at the woman and unleashed a fury of bullets, each one pelting her body and leaving a pool of blood inside the circular pod. Blood leaked out from the crevices of the pod where it opens, and pooled down onto the floor in front of Jack’s feet. The CEO kept going, shooting bullet after bullet until the magazine was empty and all that could be heard were the clicks of his gun, and the patter of blood dripping onto the cold hard floor. 

At this point, Jack felt no remorse. His mind was racing, and bloodlust was flooding all of his senses. Earlier when all of this started, Jack wanted to keep his employee killing to a bare minimum, since it was only hurting his reputation more, even when he believed that it was the right thing to do; but now, Jack had not a single care in the world. He only walked off as if nothing happened, not even paying attention to the gagging and spitting up employee behind him. 

\--

Rhys was in a state of panic, pacing the office back and forth and trying to find some sort of signal to contact Vaughn and Yvette again, but he knew it was no use. They had been in lockdown before, he knew there wouldn’t be any cellular or ECHO-net services. Rhys huffed and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He needed to focus on what was important, and that was his own life. He had to find something, _anything_ that could prove his innocence. 

‘Calm down, man,’ he told himself as he paced around the office, slightly hyperventilating. His fingers were in his hair and his eyes were wide as he panicked. His life was on the line, and if he didn’t think up something quick he was done for. He walked to Jack’s computer and went to turn it on, only to remember that everything was shut down. If the computer was a laptop he could get on and start it up, but he knew the systems were down and he couldn’t access the files even if he tried. He could hack, yes, but the lockdown was far too strong for his abilities. 

“I’m fucked!” Rhys accidentally squeaked aloud, feeling tears burn up in his eyes. His knees buckled once again and he fell, curling up into a sobbing mess like he was earlier in front of Jack. He couldn’t help but have another mental breakdown; this was way too stressful, his heart rate was through the roof, he could feel it in his throat. 

“Pull yourself together, Rhys.” He was no longer talking to himself in his head. 

Rhys took one more look at Jack’s computer. He stared at the monitor, mind racing with thoughts. Jack’s computer had to be a special one, right? It _was_ Jack’s office; anything in there was considered “special”, whether it was of higher quality, or it had more access and privileges. As Rhys stared at the monitor, he noticed a little blue light blink every few seconds. Rhys immediately raced to the computer, sat in Jack’s large, comfy chair, and pressed buttons to turn it on. 

“Please let this work,” Rhys whispered to himself, wiping away his tears with his shirt sleeve. He sniffled and looked up, watching the computer turn on. Eventually, a light blue screen popped up, with a bar asking for a passcode. 

“A fucking _password?!”_ Rhys felt tears well up in his eyes again. Why did Jack need a password? The door to his office was already a _deathtrap!_ He sighed and leaned back into Jack’s chair and felt himself sobbing without even trying to stop himself. He had to pull himself together, he couldn’t sit here and cry all damn day. 

Rhys sat up in his chair and opened the first drawer, seeing that it had a gun and a few paperclips in it. He sighed, then closed it. He figured Jack would have a password somewhere in his desk, considering Jack had so many things going on at once. He ran a damn company, and he was aging, too. All the stress he felt was making him age faster, too, he figured, and could tell by his already greying hair. He may not know Jack’s exact age, but he knew he was too young to be greying already. At least, that’s what he thought. Maybe he was just being nice. 

He opened another drawer, rummaging through papers, reading a few, not seeing many new things or possible passwords. He closed that one, then reached for another. Rhys opened that one, peering in and seeing a complete mess. He groaned and dug through the mess of papers, pens, stray bullets… Suddenly, during his flipping and searching, something fell out of the drawer with a loud crack. He immediately looked over, seeing it was a picture frame with glass scattered around it. 

“Oh fuck, fuck!” He picked up the frame, a few pieces of glass falling from it and cracking onto the floor. Great. He was already on Jack’s shitlist; breaking his personal belongings would make Rhys number one on the shitlist. Rhys turned the frame over and saw a photo of a little girl; she looked to be about eight to ten years old with thick black hair, much like Jack’s. Her eyes were big and beautiful, much like Jack’s, although Jack’s eyes were two different colours. The frame was slipping out of his hands; before he himself dropped it, it was obvious that the frame has seem better days. The wood was worn out, there were a few nails in the corners to hold it in place, and the glass that was still in the frame looked rather dirty. Rhys pulled the photo out of the frame and placed the rest on the desk, holding the photo closer to his face so he could get a better look. The photo was slightly wrinkled, and had a bit of water damage on it as well, a few spots near her cheek and where her fingers were showing. Upon closer inspection, he could see multiple fingerprints scattered along the photo, mostly at the girl’s cheek and hair. Out of curiosity, Rhys scanned the photo with his ECHO eye; those water stains on the photo were actually _tears._ Handsome Jack’s tears. Those fingerprints were also Jack’s. Maybe this was a photo of his daughter? 

“Jack… has a daughter?" He whispered aloud, turning the photo over, seeing the word ANGEL written out in all capitals in a faint, blue marker. He stared at the name, then looked up at the computer. The cursor was still blinking, as if taunting him, waiting for him to type out a password. The computer hummed silently, and the light illuminated the room with a blue tint. He gently placed the photo down beside the frame, put his fingers up to the keyboard, and slowly typed out Angel, writing it in all caps, then pressed enter. 

Jack’s desktop appeared. Word files were scattered here and there along the monitor, with his recycle bin sitting in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Smack dab in the middle of the desktop was a photo of Jack and Angel. Jack looked rather young in the photo; he didn’t have the mask, and his hair was one colour; solid brown. Angel didn’t look much different from the photo he looked at. Maybe she died at that age? 

Rhys would have cheered, maybe even jumped out of the chair and do a victory dance because he found the password and got in, but the knowledge of Jack having a daughter was weighing him down. He was in shock, if he would be honest. Jack didn’t seem like the father type. He didn’t seem the type to have patience with children, or patience in general. 

He couldn’t dwell on it too long though, as much as he would like to. Rhys wanted to know more, so much more. If he had time for snooping, he guessed he could do it later. He had to get to work, and he needed to right now.

\--

“So do you know _anything?”_

Jack turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at the employee who’s been following him all day. The man shook his head quickly. The expression on his face was odd, to say the least. Jack stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the man, body now turned to him fully. 

“You’re not lying to me, are you, kiddo?” Jack asked, taking a step closer to the man. The CEO wasn’t the tallest person, but when he was angry and spoke in a deep, serious tone, he could tower over even the tallest people. 

“N-No, sir,” he stuttered, eyes wide as he backed up to the wall when the CEO stepped closer. His heart was beating so fast, he feared Jack would be able to hear it. 

“And you’re not _scared_ of me, right, whatever-your-name-is?” He spoke again, tilting his head, his glare burning him like the sun. 

The employee shook his head again, hard enough that it looked like it could rip off. It was as if the harder he shook his head, the more believable it was. 

“A-And sir, my names Cordell—“ 

“I don’t give a shit,” he spat, turning on his heel and walking away. He heard Cordell sigh and follow after him. The man had to run, basically, so he could keep up with Jack’s fast paced walking, so all Jack could hear was the panting and wheezing from the guy.

-

“Corbin, hurry the fuck up!” Jack shouted to the back of him as he sped up and stormed into the security division of Hyperion. Cordell had stopped trying to correct Jack about his name; at this point he felt like he was dead to Jack anyways. He actually had no clue as to why he was even keeping him around. 

Upon Jack’s grand entrance, each employee cowered and backed away from the CEO. It was a normal thing for employees to flinch at Jack’s presence, but to actually fear for their life and crawl into a corner? It was overkill, but it was understandable. He was covered in blood splatters, and has been having a mental breakdown-tantrum for the past hour or so. 

“Get up, you _dumbasses!”_ Jack shouted at them with a slight chuckle, but it was no laughing matter. Immediately the men stood up straight and stood at attention, all kind of huddled up in a bit of a half circle. Jack walked up closer, feet dragging against the ground as he walked. 

Jack stood in front of the men with Cordell a few feet behind him.

“So?” Jack spoke abruptly after a moments silence, which made the men jump slightly from the sudden noise. “What were you guys doing, huh?” 

The employees were frozen, staring at him with eyes wide like a deer in headlights. 

“I said, _what were you guys doing!?”_

They jumped once again; a couple of the employees curled up to hide themselves.

“You _idiots_ had one job! One friggin’ job, and that was to PROTECT Helios and Hyperion from ASSHOLES trying to fuck with it! So, what the HELL happened!?” 

None of them answered. Jack put his hands on his hips after sighing heavily. What did he have to do to get these assholes to talk? Seriously? 

“Well, are you gonna answer me?” He yelled once again. 

“W-We don’t know sir, i-it kind of just happened—“ 

“I-I-It just happened!” Jack mocked in an exaggerated high tone. He glared daggers at the man who finally spoke up. “This _shit_ doesn’t just happen!” Jack felt his eye twitch; if he continued to scream and yell like this surely he would pop a vessel in his neck. 

Jack couldn’t stand to look at the trembling pieces of shit anymore. He rolled his eyes and turned his head slightly to look around the room. His eyes spotted a gun sitting on the desk; a nice revolver, and suddenly, Jack had an idea. 

“Pass me the gun,” he demanded, putting his arm out and palm up, curling his fingers in a beckoning motion as it pointed toward the weapon. The men were hesitant, but the one closest to the desk grabbed the gun with his shaky hand. 

“C’mon, times-a wasting!” Jack wiggled his fingers at the gun quickly. 

The employee extends his arm and hands Jack the gun, hand on the barrel as he handed Jack the grip of the gun. Jack took the gun and popped open the cylinder, pouring out the bullets in his hand, pocketing all but one. He slid the bullet into the cylinder, closed it, then gave it a smack to spin it around. 

“We’re gonna play a game,” Jack announced with a smug grin on his face. The employees gasped slightly and started to back away, which gave Jack a good laugh.

“I see you guys know the game already!” He smacked his hand on the cylinder to give it another spin, then clasped his hand around it to stop it.

“Jack, don’t do it,” Cordell spoke up, but was quickly shot down when Jack looked behind him and gave a deathly glare. 

Jack walked over to the first man on his left, who was practically shivering and shaking in his shoes with fear. The CEO only fed off of their fear. He brings the gun up to the man’s forehead. The man was whimpering and shaking so hard it looked as if he could fall apart any second. Jack only smiled as he pulled the trigger, a soft clicking sound being made afterwards showing there was no bullet, yet the man still screamed and started to cry like a small child. Jack laughed loudly and walked over to the next person in line, who was shaking just as hard as the person beside him. 

“Ohhh, man,” Jack huffed, spreading his feet a bit to show dominance and power. “This is too fun.” He lifted his gun to the mans head, giving him a taunting smile. “Will the bullet be in this one?” He asked in a playful tone, followed by a psychotic sounding laugh. He pulled the trigger and the employee flinched, but the same clicking sound is all that was heard. 

“S-Sir, you should really stop—“

Jack cut off Cordell before he could finish. “And you should really _shut the fuck up!”_

The whole room went dead silent; you could hear a pin drop. 

Jack put his attention back to the trembling employees. He went to the second last man, who was next in line. He quickly wiped off his scowl and replaced it with a wide grin as if Cordell never spoke up. 

“Maybe _you’re_ next!” Jack spoke happily, adjusting his grip on the gun then aiming the barrel directly at the mans nose. Jack put his finger on the trigger and went to squeeze; the employee’s eyes shut tightly and he whimpered in fear. 

“Handsome Jack, sir.” 

Jack groaned and put the gun down. His PA was talking to him over his ECHO comm, which was used with his PA and only his PA for emergencies much like this one, being that they were in lockdown. 

“Yes, dear?” He answered with a bite to his tone, clearly annoyed at the interruption. 

“I-I was just checking in to see if you were alright,” she spoke, sounding a bit afraid of Jack’s tone. Jack let out a soft sigh and turned his back to the employees. “Yes, everything’s a-okay.”

“Where are you?” 

“That doesn’t matter. Better question, where the hell are you? I haven’t seen you since this shit started.” 

“I’m in one of the office rooms. Ran there when everyone started screaming and running around. I’ve been trying to contact you for while, it hasn’t been working.” A slight pause. “Is Rhys with you?” 

Jack felt his stomach drop. He forgot about that damn kid. He gritted his teeth and started to walk out of the room, face red and head about to erupt and explode any second. 

“Jack? Are you still there?” 

“Go find that asshole,” Jack spat at her. “If he’s not in my office, I’m gonna freaking _kill_ him. If you find him outside my office—I don’t _care_ if his ugly-ass boot is out of my office, you shoot him dead, you hear me?”  
The PA froze, not exactly sure what to say. She was confused as to why Jack was suddenly so salty about the boy; to her they seemed close. A little too close. Unfortunately, she had no idea about what was going on, so she knew nothing about what Rhys had done; supposedly, anyways. The only evidence Jack saw was the paper, but it was clearly enough to convince him. 

“I said, you hear me?” Jack shouted it a little louder this time around. 

“Y-Yes sir,” she answered quickly. 

“Good.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well this took a lot longer than i would have liked it. 
> 
> i'd like to thank everyone though, for all your comments and kudos, you guys are awesome! hopefully you guys are still liking the fic so far; im really enjoying writing it and sharing it with you all.
> 
> infinite thanks to handsome-jacks-biceps for all the help she gives me with this fic

Unlike the rest of Jack’s office, or the rest of _Hyperion_ to be exact, Jack’s computer wasn’t as password-protected/firewalled as everything else. Yes, it did have a password when he first started it up, but other than that, nothing else was protected. Rhys guessed it would be a terrible idea for Jack to put a password on almost _everything_ in his system, considering his bad memory.

Rhys was probably searching through the system for hours. He had _no_ clue what exactly he was searching for, so he was checking every single folder he found in case Jack had something that he deemed important hidden somewhere. Eventually the company man found the files to the AI on Helios; the one who speaks general announcements throughout the day. He _knew_ she would be helpful; the AI had access and control to all of Helios. She would know how to prove Rhys innocent.

“Yes! Good, good-“ 

The moment Rhys got into the files, he heard the office door slide open. Rhys froze, eyes wide as he looked over to the person walking into the office. Thank god it wasn’t Jack, though, it was just his PA.

“Oh god, you scared me,” Rhys chuckled, brushing off the fact she was there, considering she wasn’t a threat to him. He looked back at the computer and started to work again, until he hears her speak on her ECHO—she had to be talking to Jack. 

“Sir, he’s on your computer.” 

Rhys stared at her, eyes wider than ever. “N-No, please,” 

Rhys could hear the CEO screaming on the other end and suddenly cut out. He assumed he was on his way here now. 

“Why did you do that?” Rhys panicked, staring at the PA as she turned off her ECHO and put it away. 

“Rhys, listen.” The PA makes her way over to Rhys, who seemed to be going into hysterics for the third time that day. “I know what you’re doing. I know you’re innocent; it’s unrealistic for you to do something like that to Jack. I know how you feel about him, but Jack is kind of complicated, especially with his emotions. Get back to work, make it quick, he’ll be here soon.” 

That still didn’t answer his question as to _why_ she did that to him, but instead of questioning and pestering her more, he went straight back to work. 

\--

“What use are you to me now?” Jack asks, glaring down at Cordell, who was _still_ following him around everywhere. “You already told me what you know; what else could you do for me?” 

Cordell stared at Jack with wide, panicked eyes, mouth ajar with not a _single_ word coming out of his mouth. 

“I should just kill you,” Jack says, stepping closer and making Cordell shake in fear. “Give me ONE reason why I shouldn’t kill you—“ 

Jack’s ECHO went off, and he immediately turned his back to Cordell to answer it. 

“Did you find him?” 

“Sir, he’s on your computer.” 

Jack paused, staring at his ECHO in disbelief. 

“Are you freaking _kidding_ me?”

Jack snapped. He let out a loud yell, which probably made his PA flinch a little. He threw the ECHO recorder at the wall and it smashed into bits, crumbling onto the floor metres away from him. He knew he shouldn’t have left Rhys in there alone without at least _tying him up_ before he left, but he just wasn’t thinking. So many things were going on at once that Jack couldn’t handle it all at once, so he stopped thinking rationally. Now Rhys was on his personal computer, probably fucking up _more_ things and trying to twist the knife he already lodged into Jack’s back. Without looking back at the employee who had been his shadow all day, he stormed off toward his office to go deal with the company man and give him a piece of his mind. 

\--

When Jack was angry, it was as if a boatload of adrenaline was coursing through his body. The man was speeding down the hallways without breaking into a run, and without breaking out into a sweat. Cordell, however, was running behind him to keep up. He was the exact opposite. He was practically drenched in sweat and was wheezing; clearly, he wasn’t in such great shape. 

Jack wasn’t even looking behind him anymore to see if Cordell was still with him. He didn’t care where he was, or how far away he was. He wouldn’t even care if the man keeled over and died right where he stood. All that was on Jack’s mind right now was Rhys, and how he was going to murder him in the most satisfying way possible. 

“Rhys, you better hurry up,” the PA told the company man, who was still typing and clicking away on the computer. 

“I’m so close,” he muttered, clicking his way through. He glanced up at the PA, seeing she had her head peeking out to keep a watchful eye for the CEO. 

“I managed to find the Hyperion AI,” he tells the PA, figuring he could announce what he knew so far. He continued searching around, typing commands to the AI until he finally found what he needed. He leaned back in his chair and let out a loud, long sigh of relief, followed by a soft ‘oh my god’. 

The PA looked over at him. “What is it?” 

Rhys sat up fully in his chair. “I found a list,” he tells her, scrolling through it and skimming each name that showed up until he found his own name. “The list shows the time and date that each person logged into the system and which computer was used. It says that all these people that were accused of hacking the system, including me, all logged into the computer at the exact same time and date on the _exact_ same computer.” Rhys couldn’t control the wide smile that was on his face. It was contagious, since now the PA was smiling just as wide. 

“I might have just saved my ass!” Rhys laughed in relief, combing his fingers through his hair. He saved his own ass as well as all those other employees who Jack might go after.

“Rhys, he’s coming!” The PA looked back at Rhys and quickly stood near the entrance, watching as the CEO stormed toward the door. 

“God _damnit_ Meg! _Why_ didn’t you get Rhys off of my computer?” Jack stopped directly in front of the smaller woman, who wasn’t trembling, not even in the slightest. 

“Well what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t pull him of, what if he has a weapon? I needed to keep myself safe-“ 

“Yeah, well while you’re keeping your little self all safe and sound at the front of my office, that little _shit_ could have been making _everything worse!”_ Jack yells in the woman’s face, but Meg doesn’t seem phased by any of this. It made sense, since she’d been Jack’s PA for quite some time now. 

Rhys knew Jack was hurt and furious, but hearing the names he was calling him and the _things_ he was saying in general took Rhys off guard. He had seen and heard how Jack reacted before to people betraying him, and it wasn’t _as_ bad as how he was reacting now. He knew it was bad before, of course—Jack threw a temper tantrum—but right now, he was throwing a _bad_ tantrum. It didn’t even seem _like_ a tantrum; it looked like Jack had just simply snapped. 

Jack glared daggers at Meg before turning his head and seeing Rhys, sitting directly in his chair. Rhys’ eyes were wide and right on Jack as he moved over to him in a walk that looked like he meant business, and Rhys knew very well that he did. 

Before Rhys had the moment to speak and tell Jack about his findings, Jack pulled the Hyperion branded pistol he had in his holster and aimed it directly at Rhys’ head. Rhys’ arms threw up in an action of surrender and he let out a small yelp of fear. “Jack! Please don’t do this, I-“ 

“I don’t care what you have to say, Rhys; I’ve heard enough.” Jack’s tone was firm and serious, and it sent shivers down Rhys’ spine- _bad_ shivers. He spent hours searching through the system and he finally found something that could save _his_ ass as well as many others on Helios. He couldn’t die now! 

“Jack please, don’t do this.” Rhys took a small step back, making his way a bit closer to Jack’s computer. He made it as slow as he could so it wouldn’t be noticeable. “I’m innocent! That list that _jerk_ gave you was all a scam! It’s not true, Jack, and I can prove it.” 

“I said, ‘I don’t _care,’_ Rhys!” Jack stepped even closer to Rhys until the barrel of the gun touched his forehead. Rhys claimed he could prove his own innocence, but it all seemed like a big lie. How could he, in the time Jack was gone, show enough evidence to show that Rhys never did anything wrong? Especially without him leaving the office? 

“Jack-“ 

“How did you get into my computer?” 

“Please, let me just show you-“ 

“I asked you a _question,_ kiddo, you better friggin’ answer it!” 

“Jack that _doesn’t matter!_ Let me show you what I found, god damnit!” 

“You don’t get to decide what matters and what doesn’t!” Jack’s tone had raised significantly higher than it was when he was first talking to Rhys. The barrel of the gun was pressed harder against his forehead; Rhys wouldn’t be surprised if it left a mark. Seeing the gun being pressed between his eyes made his heart race. He never thought he and Jack would become something like this, and it was making him absolutely terrified. 

All that was running through Jack’s head was how much of a traitor Rhys was to him at this moment. Thoughts of what they’ve done together were tattooed to his brain; that blow job, the way Rhys’ fingers went inside of Jack, and the passionate kiss they shared earlier today. Hell, Jack was certain if Cordell didn’t show up, he would have ended up fucking Rhys right on his desk. He wanted it badly this morning, and he had no idea why. This _stupid_ kid was just a _stupid_ code-monkey with some _stupid_ look he had on his _stupid_ face whenever Jack said something to him, and his _stupid_ clothing and his _stupid_ hair…

Jack tightened his grip on the gun and grit his teeth, loud enough that Rhys could hear the grinding. His stupid face pissed him off. His stupid _everything_ made him so angry, because he _liked_ it. He liked who Rhys was, he liked the way he dressed, he liked the way he did his hair, and that made all of this so much more hard on him. 

“I can’t believe what you did,” Jack spoke, not even thinking before he spoke aloud. 

“Jack, I _told_ you I didn’t do it!” Rhys exclaimed, feeling tears of frustration well up in his eyes. 

“Not that, you idiot!” Jack prodded the boys head with the weapon. “I thought it _meant_ something to you! I thought you actually wanted to do it for the sake of doing it, not because you wanted to distract me.”

Rhys stared at Jack with a confused expression. 

“You dirty slut.” 

“Jack, put the gun down,” Meg finally spoke up, taking slow steps up to the CEO. 

“Fuck off, Meg!” Jack shouted, eyes still staring at Rhys, burning large holes into his skull from such a hard stare. 

“Jack, please… It _did_ mean something, I promise. Please listen to Meg, drop the gun…” 

“Stop _lying_ to me, Rhys! God damnit!” Jack raised his arm and smacked the butt of the gun hard on Rhys’ nose, causing him to shout and put his hands at his face as he stumbled backwards. He was certain he felt some sort of crack in his nose, and he was _certain_ he felt blood run down to his lips. 

“Jack, no! Stop it right now!” Meg grabbed Jack’s arm and yanked his arm away that held the weapon. Jack put up quite the fight; eyes still glued on the whimpering, bleeding Rhys, as he fought off Meg’s strong tug on his arm. 

Cordell stayed where he was the entire time, watching the chaos unfold. He felt his heart in his throat from the large waves of anxiety washing over him, soaking him completely with the feeling of regret and paranoia. This was his fault, and he knew it. He wished he didn’t tell Jack, he wished he could have done something about it in a different way rather than going straight to the CEO.   
But he didn’t exactly have a choice, now did he? 

“Stop it! _STOP!”_

The sudden outburst from Cordell was a surprise to the three people tugging and fighting against each other. Each of their heads turned to look at who was once quiet and not all that talkative the entire time they stood in the office. 

Cordell awkwardly toyed with his fingers, trying to gather his thoughts before he spoke. 

“This is my fault,” he finally spoke, getting a confused look from the others in front of him. “Rhys didn’t do it. No one else did it, I know who did it. I was hired by them to give you that paper I handed to you earlier.” 

Jack’s expression changed from confused to furious. 

“You _what?”_ Jack shoved away Meg with a small push and made his way other to Cordell until he was right in his face. 

“I-I lied,” Cordell whimpered out, almost choking on his tears about now. Anyone who has heard of Handsome Jack _knows_ that he hates being lied to. “I lied to you, Jack, they hired me to give you that list and to follow you around everywhere and give updates on what you were doing. They wanted me to distract you, they wanted me to-“ 

Jack didn’t need to hear any more. Before Cordell could finish talking, Jack smacked the butt of his pistol into the man’s face just like he did to Rhys, making the man fall down and crash to the floor. Rhys was too busy recovering from his own punch to go and help, and Meg did _not_ want to get in the middle of Jack’s rage at Cordell. 

The CEO aimed his pistol at the man and without a moments hesitation he pulled the trigger. Cordell winced and curled up to hide himself, scared _shitless_ despite the fact that the weapon clicked. Jack wasted all his ammo earlier on another employee. Jack let out a loud yell and threw his pistol across the room, immediately bending over to Cordell and pinning him down onto his back. He straddled his waist and started to throw punches at his face; the first one came crashing down on his cheekbone, then the other hit his jaw, then his eye, nose, anywhere Jack was able to aim and hit. 

It took only a few punches to make the man bleed and cry in pain. Jack realized that it would have been stupid to kill Cordell, especially since he stated earlier that he knew who the culprits were; the _real_ culprits. Then again, all of that could have been a lie. Maybe it was part of the little plan he either thought up himself or thought up with another group of people. Still, the possibility remained, so Jack had to refrain himself from bashing Cordell’s brains out. 

Jack panted heavily, still seated atop of Cordell’s stomach. He watched as the blood dripped from his knuckles onto Cordell’s shirt; some also dripped onto his pant leg. Jack’s eyes went up to Cordell’s face; the man was knocked the fuck out, head tilted to the side, blood dripping from the tip of his nose onto the flooring. Jack let out a chuckle. Although it wasn’t funny, Jack couldn’t stop the laughter. Maybe it was the fact that Cordell was knocked out cold from just a few punches. What a pussy. 

Jack stands up, taking a couple steps away from Cordell. He couldn’t even look at him anymore; he felt so disgusted. Not from the blood, no, but because of what Cordell did. The CEO turns around to face the other two; Rhys’ hands were no longer covering his nose, though his face did look pretty banged up. Both he and Meg were standing back, showing a bit of fear from the tantrum Jack just had. Even though Meg was used to this kind of stuff, she still showed a bit of fear; maybe this was the worst she’s seen him act? 

Jack wiped his knuckles off of his pants, smearing the blood on the rough denim. He needed to clean them anyways. 

“Rhys, go clean up,” he says in a hushed tone. Jack overall had become more calm and collected than moments before. “Go use the bathroom, clean up, get the blood off of your face. Freshen up a bit.”   
Jack then turned to Meg after Rhys walked off silently and quickly to the bathroom Jack had in his office. “Tie up Cordell in one of those stupid chairs. Go grab a janitor afterwards; it’s next to impossible to get blood off of these friggin’ tiles.” 

Meg made her way over to Cordell and lifted his shoulders. She made a face as she dragged the body over to the cheap chairs Jack had in front of his desk. He was rather heavy, since he was a larger man, but she managed to get him propped up into the seat. She walked off to grab some rope, which she used to tie around Cordell’s wrists, then around the base of the chair. 

The company man stared at himself in the mirror. The bridge of his nose was bruised, and blood was dripping out of both nostrils. It was smeared across his face because of his hands covering his face; his shirt sleeve had blood on it from wiping it off from his nose. His flesh hand has a bit of blood on it as well. His nose was pretty swelled up overall. 

Rhys let out a sigh and turned on the sink, bending over and rinsing the blood off of his nose and his palm. The blood was going to stain his shirt, if it hadn’t already done so, but he knew it was ruined. He didn’t care, though, he had plenty more at home. 

Jack watched Meg as she tied Cordell up. She wiped the blood off of her hands onto the male’s shirt sleeves, then quickly walked off to find a janitor to clean this up. Jack’s eyes were glued to her as she walked past, though Meg’s head was down, avoiding any sort of eye contact with the CEO. 

After Rhys finished cleaning off the fresh and dried blood from his face, he dried his face off then went to the door. He hesitated before reaching forward and grabbing the doorknob with his cybernetic hand. It was tempting to stay hidden in the bathroom for the rest of his life, since he was _terrified_ of Jack at the moment. He’s never been hit by Jack before, let alone being hit by someone at all. He rubbed his bruised nose and let out a small pained sound. He figured he might as well go out; hiding wasn’t going to do anything for him. 

Jack looked behind him when he heard the bathroom door opening. He turned around and stood with his legs slightly spread and his arms crossed along his chest. He and Rhys immediately lock eyes, and he could tell that made the boy feel slightly uncomfortable. 

Rhys stood still as he watched Jack walk over to him. He kept telling himself to go right back into the bathroom and slam the door shut, but he didn’t. His mind kept screaming to get away from Jack and to hide in the bathroom, but Rhys didn’t move a single muscle. Jack stood in front of him now, only inches away from him. 

“Listen, I uh…” Jack looked away from Rhys’ face and put his gaze at the floor. “Sorry for smacking you. In the face.” 

Rhys barely heard what Jack said, but he knew it was some kind of an apology. Rhys bit and chewed on his bottom lip to try and hide his forming smile. He forgave him, since he knew Jack was only acting from the way he felt, but he didn’t say anything. He only nodded, which seemed to be good enough for Jack.

The cybernetic man abandoned the bathroom and took his luck with Jack by walking toward him. Rhys lifted his head and looked up at Jack; the CEO’s eyes haven’t left him since Rhys got out of the bathroom. He swallowed nervously and used his cybernetic fingers to toy around with his flesh ones. He let out a small yelp when he accidentally pinched his skin. He saw that Jack smirked slightly at that, which made Rhys chuckle awkwardly. 

“That thing you were talking about,” Jack says, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. “On my computer. That thing you wanted to show me so badly. You wanna show me?” 

Rhys hummed in uncertainty. “Yeah, I mean, I _guess_ so.” Pause. “If you want to see it, I’ll show you.” 

“I’m not actually asking you if you want to do it, I’m _telling_ you to go and do it.” 

He looked at Jack with a blank stare before nodding quickly and walking away from Jack and over to his computer. He seated himself into Jack’s chair, which was probably something he shouldn’t have done, and woke the computer up from it’s sleep mode. Once again he was asked for a password, which he typed in without even thinking, and it allowed him access. Rhys could feel Jack’s hard stare burning at the back of his head; he couldn’t help but shake slightly in fear. 

Once the computer unlocked, it resumed the previous session that it was at before Jack walked in. Rhys cleared his throat softly and put his hand on the computer mouse. He scrolled through the long list of names until he found his own. 

Rhys then turned around in the chair to face Jack, giving him a look that read ‘here it is’. 

Jack stared at the screen. “I don’t know what you’re trying to show me.” 

“W-Well… Y’see the time it said I logged on?” He hovered the cursor over the time, seeing that Jack had leaned in rather close to look at the time. Poor guy probably needed to put glasses on. 

“And everyone else logged in at the same time.” As Rhys explained, he scrolled along the list, showing him that everyone had in fact logged on at the exact same time. “Also, it shows where the person logged in, and it’s all at the same computer.” He looked back over to Jack. “It’s impossible for something like that to happen, unless it’s one person doing all the work.” 

As Rhys spoke, Jack’s eyes were glued onto the screen, squinting here and there when Rhys motioned to the times and locations on the login history. It made sense to him, the more he thought about it. Jack nodded at that, agreeing with everything he was saying. 

Jack had no idea how to feel. He felt kinda bad for lashing out like that at Rhys, and he also felt embarrassed about the fact that Rhys was so successful with proving him wrong. Jack stands upright and crosses his arms along his chest again, letting out a small huffed breath. 

Rhys looked over at him, trying to read his expression and body language to see if he could figure out what the CEO was feeling, and so far he had no idea. He raised a brow, still staring at Jack as he rubbed his chin and mouth with his hand as if he was deep in thought. 

“Cordell said he knew who the people were,” Jack announces, changing the subject now. 

Rhys was a little annoyed at the fact that Jack didn’t make a comment on his findings, but what _could_ Jack say exactly? 

“So, are we gonna wait until he wakes up?” 

Jack nods. “Then we’ll get answers out of him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spam me with shit on tumblr: jackshairytanarms.tumblr.com i'll take any requests you guys want for drabbles and stuff like that. thanks for sticking around! <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> m an! 
> 
> apologizes for this taking so long guys, but thank you SO much for sticking around! i love reading your comments and everything you give me, i appreciate it so much. 
> 
> shit goes down here lmao. i hope you guys enjoy it!

All he could feel was his head pulsating when consciousness finally came around. It felt as if parts of his brain were swelling and pressing against his skull, as if it wanted to come out of his head and become exposed. His eyes were swollen; so swollen that he could barely open his eyes without feeling pain. He had a feeling he didn’t want to open his eyes anyways; the lights were probably far too bright for himself to handle. The darkness behind his lids were much more appealing anyways. 

He could smell the blood on his face and the blood on his clothes, which smelled absolutely terrible. He could also smell strong bleach and other cleaning supplies, which made his stomach do flips and his head feel light. 

Cordell’s head lolled to the side, which made him realize he was sitting up. He tries to move his hands to rub his face and wipe off the blood trickling down his forehead, but he found that his wrists were tied behind his back. He let out a small noise, which was a mix between a scared whimper and a pained groan. 

Against his better judgement, Cordell slowly opens his eyes, and almost immediately they were met and locked with Handsome Jack. He would have shut his eyes as quickly as possible, but with how weak he was his eyes slowly shut back again. All he could hear was Jack’s booming laughter. 

“Sorry, princess, closing your eyes isn’t gonna get rid of me. I’m not a dream, kiddo. I’m the real deal.” 

Cordell groaned once again and leaned his head back. Jack was the last person he wanted to deal with at the moment; he would have been happier if it was Rhys, or even the PA, or anyone else for that matter. 

“I can’t _believe_ you lied to me like that,” Jack announces with a hearty laugh, but in reality it was no laughing matter. “What made you think you could get away with lying to Handsome Jack, huh? God, you’re so freaking stupid.” 

Cordell could feel himself hyperventilate. Anyone under the sun knew that if you pissed off Handsome Jack, you were done for. Cordell made a mistake; hell, he didn’t even _want_ to get involved with this, but there he was. The more Cordell breathed in through his nose, the more he inhaled the bleach fumes. Maybe it was because he was overly sensitive, or maybe it was because of his heightened senses from fear that made the cleaning supplies so disgustingly strong. Cordell felt himself gag slightly from the fumes, and even waver a bit in his seat. There was so many reasons as to why he would be lightheaded, and Cordell couldn’t settle on one reason alone. 

“So, what’s the truth then, asshole?” Jack asked, taking a step closer to him, to make himself seem more powerful and sinister. He put his hands on his hips and leaned forward a bit, staring Cordell directly into his weak, half opened eyes. 

Cordell didn’t have the strength to tell him. His head lolled to the side and his eyes were averted to Meg, who’s hands were bloody as well as her clothing. She was on her knees, scrubbing the bloody floor with bleach and soap. He had a weak stomach with blood, and knowing that that was _his_ blood only made it worse, especially with the strong bleach smell. 

Before he knew it, he heaved and vomited on the floor, right beside his chair. Jack made a sound of disgust and backed away. 

“Meg, you’re gonna have to clean _this_ up too,” Jack told his PA, annoyance clear in his tone. 

Meg sighed. “I know, I heard him.” 

Meg tossed her bloody rags aside and grabbed the mop she brought in and went over to the mess Cordell made. Meg would have had a janitor clean it up themselves, considering it was their job, but none were to be found. She guessed they were all gone and hiding; she would have been too. She dipped her mop into the bucket and brought it over to the mess and mopped it up without looking at it all that much.

Jack averted his gaze over to Cordell after looking at Meg for some time. Cordell was a _mess._ He was sweaty with blotchy skin, and just all around looked disgusting. 

“I don’t care whether or not that little… Puking thing was an act or not. Yer not getting away with lying to me.” 

“J-Just kill me, then,” Cordell whimpered, voice cracking as if he was about to cry. “Just kill me already, I have nothing left to live for. It’s all _fucked_ up now, there’s nothing left.” 

Jack laughed and shook his head. “Holy shit, I would _love_ to fucking kill you, kiddo, but I just can’t do that. Y’see, it would be like letting you off easy, wouldn’t it? You lied to me. _You’re_ the one that made everything worse, pumpkin. You could have told me the truth from the start. You can always trust Jack, you know that.” Jack gave him a sweet, yet psychotic smile. “Now, you better tell me what was going on in that friggin’ brain of yours before I do something you don’t want me to do.”

Jack was going to kill him anyways. He was just that type; milk up and use something until he didn’t need it anymore, then toss it away like a used napkin. What use did Jack have with Cordell after this, anyways? Cordell _knew_ he was done for. He fucked it up, he knew he fucked up, so he might as _well_ spill the beans, right? It would save himself from being beaten to a pulp, and/or tortured with whatever instruments Jack had in here. 

“I don’t even work for Hyperion,” he whimpered weakly. 

“What the fuck does that even mean?” 

“J-Jack, please, I’ll tell you everything just _listen-“_

“I’m friggin’ listening, spit it out!” 

“Technically, I do work at Hyperion… I have my own ID and uniform and whatever, but I’m actually with DAHL.” Cordell froze and winced, as if Jack was going to do something to him. He could hear his teeth grind in anger, so he quickly continued before Jack could make a move. 

“I left DAHL and went to Hyperion, pretending I never worked at DAHL so I could be let in… These two other guys had the same idea, though they did it first. They told me to leave DAHL and come here; I didn’t want to at first. I knew I could never work at Hyperion, so I went to DAHL, but they don’t pay as good as you, so I had no choice. The two guys gave me a job because I really needed money, so I left DAHL and came here. I didn’t even know their plan until I left and got my job here under a new identity.

“They wanted to screw you over. They have something against you, I don’t know—they wanted money for DAHL, so they thought screwing over Hyperion would give DAHL more attention and we’d get more money.” 

Cordell paused for a breather. He took deep breaths, then let out a flurry of coughs as if he started to choke on air. His eyes opened up slightly after he winced from his coughing; his head felt like it was about to explode. 

Jack didn’t look happy _at all._ He looked like he was about to jump on him and strangle him so hard his meaty neck would snap right in his palms, but unfortunately he had to contain himself; it was a lot harder than it sounded. 

“The guys… They got rid of their ID before messing with the network. But their names… T-Their names are Quincy Bland and Harrison Schaffer.” 

Ultimately, Jack was surprised Cordell could even _remember_ names that odd. “Never freaking heard of them.” 

“They’re never here,” he explained, panting in his seat. “Jack, please, I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t have. I just needed the money, I needed _something,_ I needed to get a better job than DAHL, but fuck that’s all I could do, I didn’t have qualifications for anything else—“ 

“Where are they?” 

“I-I don’t know—“ 

“Cordell, don’t feed me this _SHIT!”_ Jack suddenly slammed his palm down on his desk, making a loud noise. “You told me everything already, don’t even _try_ to hide where they are or so _HELP ME_ I’ll friggin’ _wring_ that stupid little neck of yours—!“ 

“Fine! Fine, fine! They’re… They should be… Wherever the main computers are, I don’t _know!_ They could have moved, I don’t know where they are!” Tears started to stream down Cordell’s blotchy cheeks, and he whined out whatever responses he could give.” “They’re always _moving_ around, I don’t know where they are, please!” 

Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head in disgust at the mans sobs and whines. Truly pathetic, really. He had _no_ idea how the loser even got on the station, let alone land a job here. “Stop your fucking crying, _god_ its pathetic.” 

Cordell continued to choke on his tears, though. He stopped his blabbering and kept his mouth shut as he shook in his chair with the occasional sniff and whimper. Jack didn’t need to bug him anymore and try to get the answers out of him; he believed he had everything already. Almost everything. He needed to know where they were, and since Helios was fucking _huge,_ there was no way he’d be able to find them without giving up and throwing a hissy fit. 

“What do they look like?” Jack asked after Cordell calmed down a bit and collected himself. 

“Quincy has dirty blond hair,” Cordell responds, sniffling a bit. “Harrison is a brunet. Both of them have relatively short hair. Harrison is a bit taller than Quincy, and they’re both pretty thin.” 

It wasn’t a good enough description, but what else was Cordell supposed to give? Jack sighs once again and puts his hands in his pockets. He walks around his desk, silent, mind racing in thought. How was he going to find them? If they were smart, they’d be hiding. There was no possible way for them to escape, so he _had_ to find them here. 

“We’re not going to stop until we find them,” Jack suddenly announced, making Meg look up in complete surprise. 

“Jack, you heard him, the guys could be _anywhere._ You know for a fact that they’re the ones behind all of this and no was else was trying to screw you over, so why don’t you just drop it?” 

“Just _drop it?”_ Jack made his way over to Meg, his eyebrows furrowed in a glare. “Just freaking drop it?! I’m not letting them get away with this, Meg! What if they stole a shitload of money? What if they stole products or goods we need to _make_ the goddamn crap we make? I don’t give a single _shit_ if it would be easy to get it all back; they don’t deserve a single goddamn _penny_ Hyperion makes!” 

Meg fell silent. She knew Jack was right; she was just afraid. She wanted things back to the way they were already. Everyone was hiding in fear; people were killed trying to escape. It was chaos.

“Alright, Jack.” Meg finished up cleaning the floor before picking up her appliances and heading out to the nearest janitor closet to put them back. 

Jack looked back at Cordell once Meg was out of the room. “How can I trust you?” He asks, furrowing his brows. “What if you’re just _fucking_ with me again?” Jack walked backwards until he was at his desk, then sat upon it. He gave a little chuckle. “You could be luring me into a trap, couldn’t ya?” 

Cordell shivered in his seat, then shook his head wildly. “N-No, Jack, I wouldn’t do that—“ 

“But you _did._ You already lied, and when you lie once, you completely lose my trust. Y’got that?” 

Cordell nodded just as quickly as he shook his head. 

“Good.” 

Jack hopped off of his desk and made his way back over to Cordell. “You are going to help me. I know you could easily be trying to fuck me over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t point them out to me, right? You wouldn’t be luring me into a trap that way. Plus, I know how to deal with _pricks_ like you.” 

Jack’s gaze wandered upwards when Meg walked into the room, after she presumably cleaned up from handling bodily fluids. 

“How about we head off and go find them, huh?” Jack flashed Cordell a toothy grin. “There’s no way they’d be able to get off Helios, so I’m sure we could find them easily, right? I have soldiers, robots, and a mixture of both. We could find them easily-” 

“I don’t think that would be necessary,” Meg spoke up suddenly. “That would attract too much attention, don’t you think? Why don’t we go as a group? Rhys can handle dragging around Cordell, and he’d have a gun. I’ll come with you guys for extra support.” 

That plan sounded much better than his own. Honestly, Jack had no idea where _anyone_ was anyways, since they all dispersed after the fiasco that went on. They could have been dead, or hiding, or anything like that. Jack gives Meg a friendly smile and nods at that. “Sounds like a plan.”  
\--  
“Now you can handle a gun, can’t you, kiddo?” Jack asked Rhys, holding one of his Hyperion pistols he kept in his office by the barrel. He had his arm extended to Rhys, handing him the pistol; Jack wasn’t about to take no for an answer. If Rhys wasn’t good with a gun, oh well—surly he’d find out eventually, right? 

Rhys hesitated before reaching out and taking the handle of the gun; this was probably a mistake, but he couldn’t say no to Jack. He swallowed hard and brought the pistol up to himself, getting a look at the sleek design. He’s always liked the look and the make of their guns, but never has he ever actually _held_ one until now. 

“I guess so,” he finally spoke after he stared at the gun for what seemed to be an eternity. He looked up at Jack, giving him a look as if he was unsure of what he was doing. The CEO sighed heavily before taking the gun from Rhys’ hands. 

“Look. This is the safety.” Jack shows him the gun and points at what he was talking about. “Flick it before you shoot. Not right before, because that’s friggin’ dumb, but when you sense you need to use it, turn the safety off.” Jack does so to show Rhys how to use it. 

“Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.” Jack stands up straight and spreads his legs a bit. “Aim…” He brought his arms up and aimed the weapon. “Make sure your arms are completely straight, and lock your elbows. Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot and you’re _certain_ that you should shoot.” Jack aimed down the sight, closing one eye and staying that way for a moment to allow Rhys to soak up the position. 

Jack then hands the pistol to Rhys after he turned the safety on. “You try.” 

Rhys took the gun with shaky hands. He put his left hand around the handle of the gun, flesh finger lingering around the trigger of the pistol, but not on it, just like Jack said. He put the butt of the gun in the palm of his cybernetic hand, then spread his legs shoulder width apart, just as Jack had shown him. 

‘Extend your arms,’ he told himself in his head. ‘Don’t forget to lock your elbows.’ 

Rhys’ arms extended outward and his elbows locked. He looked down the sights, feeling pretty confident that he had this in the bag. He almost smiled, but then Jack’s hand smacking his back pulled him out of his deep thoughts.

“Now _how_ are you gonna shoot the bastard with your safety on?” He asked, smile wide. Rhys looked back at Jack with wide eyes and a large blush panted across his face, which made Jack holler with laughter. 

“Show me how to turn off the safety, pumpkin.” 

Rhys nods quickly and looks down at the gun. He searched around the side of the weapon, then flipped it over to the other side. For the life of him, he couldn’t find it. Wasn’t it some kind of switch? Where was it?

“Other side, princess,” Jack laughs, watching how Rhys flips it over with a confused look on his face. Jack points it out to him, and Rhys turns it off. 

“Good, good. Now, do you know how to reload?” 

Rhys nods. He uses his other hand to press the release button, but Jack shook his head. 

“No no, you should use your thumb.” He held the boy’s wrist, then pushed his thumb against the button. In a few tries, Rhys was successful in loading his pistol efficiently. 

“Alright, good. Let’s get a move on.” 

The two went over to Meg, who was standing near Cordell. She was untying the rope around his wrists and his body to lift him from the chair. Afterwards she tied his wrists together with the rope in front of him, leaving a long piece of rope at the front as if it were a leash. 

“So what’s the plan, Meg?” Jack asks, wanting her to explain it to Rhys. 

Meg handed Rhys the rope. “You’re gonna stick with Cordell. I’ll be with Jack.” Rhys nods and takes the rope with his cybernetic hand. “I think we should split up to look for the guys; Cordell said they’re moving around, right? I mean, with that in mind it would be better to split, don’t you think?” 

Rhys nodded once again, despite the fact that he _really_ didn’t like the sound of them splitting up. Cordell was too dazed to fight against Rhys, so that was one less thing to worry about, but what bothered Rhys the most was what if the two of them found the guys, and they tried to fight back? Rhys had a gun—he _knew_ how to use the gun, but he was still inexperienced. 

“I… I understand what you’re getting at, but isn’t it a bit unsafe?” Rhys asked, nervousness in his tone. “I mean, I’ve never actually shot a gun. What if I found the guys and they had weapons? It’d be two against one, or three against one if Cordell decides to be a dick.”

“You’ll be fine, Rhysie.” Jack shot a smile and patted Rhys’ back. “You’re a quick learner, you’re a tough kid. Just act stern, shout when you speak, and threaten with your gun, even if you are bluffing. I’m sure these guys aren’t badasses, kiddo. They’re clearly stupid if they thought it was a good idea to fuck with me.” 

“Yeah, I guess so.” 

“So it’s settled? It’s settled. Let’s go.”   
\--  
Rhys walked along the hallway with Meg and Jack, while dragging Cordell behind him. Occasionally he would look back at Cordell to see how he was doing. He didn’t _hate_ Cordell to bits like Jack did. He wouldn’t want to become friends with him, or if someone threatened to shoot Cordell instead of him he would be okay with that, but he still had a bit of compassion left in him. He wasn’t about to tug on the rope and laugh in his face when he falls to the ground; Rhys was much nicer than that. 

Every now and then Rhys brought his hand down to the holster Jack had given him to use, to feel if the gun was still there. It was strapped down, and it was next to impossible for his gun to disappear without him noticing, but he still felt paranoid and had to check. No one would have stolen his gun; Jack and Meg were on his side, and Cordell’s hands were tied up. Rhys took a shaky breath, then settled his arms at his sides, trying his best to relax. 

“You two head that way,” Meg suggested, pointing over to the left down another hallway. “That’s over to where the computers are, right? The ones they used?”

It was hard to tell where you were when you were on Helios station, but Rhys dedicated most of his working career to memorize the whole map. He’s gotten most of it down, which was better than some of the employees who have been here for much longer than him. “Yeah, it’s down over there.” After slight hesitation, Rhys made his way over in that direction, bringing Cordell along with him. 

“Come find us if you find anything!” Meg calls after him, making her way down the rest of the hallway with Jack. 

\--

“You think he’ll be okay?” Jack asks Meg, taking a right once they got to the end of the hallway. 

“I’m sure he’s fine.” 

“Yeah.” Jack chuckled. “Cordell’s too weak to do anything, plus he’s like a marshmallow. You could like… Kick him and he’d topple over.” Jack laughed a little more. 

Meg’s teeth grit against each other slowly, and felt pressure build up in her chest as if she was going to explode. She suddenly stopped walking and turned to look at Jack, who stopped shortly after she did. 

“What?” Jack asked after a moment of silence. He smiled his signature, smug grin. “What is it, babe?” 

 

“Don’t you _dare_ call me babe!” Meg pants softly, trying to regain her breath from her sudden outburst. “I’m _sick_ of how stuck up you are!” She takes a step closer to the CEO. “I _hate_ how cocky you are, I _hate_ how you’re a dick to everyone you talk to, I _hate_ that you think you’re so much better than anyone else you meet!” 

Jack stands there with his eyes wide. 

“You know what? Everything people have been saying about you is true. You’re psychotic. You’re _dangerous._ You’re all those terrible things, but you know what, Jack? Most of all, you’re a coward.” 

The CEO’s mouth opened slightly in disbelief. He cocked a brow and tilted his head, letting out a weird sounding chuckle. “Meg, what the hell?”

“No, Jack! I’m _sick_ of this bullshit! You’re driving me _crazy!_ All you do is sit around and complain! How are you even considered a CEO? You do _nothing!”_

Jack’s smile disappeared completely. His eyebrows furrowed into more of an angry look, and made his way over to her. “Meg, you better bite your friggin’ tongue.” 

“Fuck off, Jack!” She shoved him away as hard as she could, which only pushed him back a couple steps. Meg drew the gun she had at the back of her skirt, and aimed it directly at Jack’s face, turning off the safety with a click. “You’re dangerous. You’re a psycho, you’re disgusting, and you don’t deserve to be president of this company, Jack. Who would want a _child killer_ as a president, anyways?” 

“I told you to bite your goddamn tongue, Meg!” Jack charged himself forward, but Meg moved his gun closer to Jack and put her finger on the trigger. 

“Take another step, Jack, and I’ll blow off your face!” 

Meg panted and slowly moved her finger away from the trigger. “Don’t even try to give me your sob story. ‘Oh, I didn’t kill my daughter, those _friggin’_ Vault Hunters killed them!’” Meg mocked Jack, soon shaking her head and letting out a pathetic chuckle. “You caused everything, Jack. They should have killed you. _I_ should have killed you; _you_ should have died a long time ago.” 

“Jack, Jack—“ Rhys ran in, dragging along Cordell. Cordell panted and wheezed, doubling over. Rhys’ eyes widened at the sight of Meg aiming her gun directly into Jack’s face.

“Jack… Jack, no!” 

_Bang._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> visit my tumblr --> http://jackshairytanarms.tumblr.com


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wheW 
> 
> finally updated after 21894374781 years
> 
> thank you so so much for all of your support, i appreciate all the comments and all of the kudos you guys are giving me, you are all amazing

Loud, echoing gunshots were something that fueled Jack. The mere sound of the gun cracking to fire off its bullet meant that action was about to happen. Never has Jack ever felt a sense of fear when a bullet was being fired; not until now. The loud shot echoed in Jack’s ears and he flinched rather hard, as if flinching will help ease the pain when the bullet breaks your skin and enters your body.

Immediately after the first shot was fired, a second one went off. It sounded as if the shots happened simultaneously, but it was hard to tell. There was a sudden pain in the side of Jack’s neck, and there was now warmth pooling in that area as well as his shoulder. Immediately he brought his hand to his neck and gasped, dropping down to his knees and gripping onto the wound, trying to stop the blood from flowing and causing him to bleed out. Sure, Jack has been shot, but this felt so close to important veins and other parts of his body that he felt as if he wouldn’t survive. The thought made his heart race, which surely wasn’t a good thing for this kind of situation. 

His vision was starting to black out. 

‘Pathetic,’ was what was running through Jack’s head. 

‘Keep your eyes open, goddamnit.’

The only thing keeping him awake at this point was wondering where the hell the other shot came from. Was he shot twice? He wouldn’t doubt it, and it also wasn’t very likely for Jack to know for sure if he was shot twice, being that his whole body was slowly going numb.

Did it really happen this fast?

His own hand was slowly loosening around his neck, and he felt himself dropping to the ground. His own thoughts were fading, and he could barely register the hands on his body and the speaking near his ear. 

\--

Rhys searched exactly where Cordell said the two men would be. He kept his pistol in his hand instead of keeping it in the holster he was given from Jack, just in case there were any surprises. The rope was long enough for Rhys to wrap it around Cordell’s head and use it as some kind of gag; it was perfect, actually. It kept Cordell closer to him, plus it made him turn into some kind of human shield. Also, if the two of them did happen to run into the other men they were looking for, Cordell was quieted by the rope in his mouth. 

Upon entering the room, Rhys realized just how _huge_ it was. Rhys had no reason to be in here as an employee, which was why he never entered. He walked deeper inside, gripping onto the rope as tight as the grip he had on his gun. He walked slowly, practically holding his breath, until he spotted a computer monitor that showed the reflection of two men in the room, which fit the description that Cordell gave earlier. 

Rhys wanted nothing but to take care of these two himself. Wouldn’t it be a nice surprise for Jack? He kind of wanted to impress him, if he was being honest. He wanted to show that he wasn’t some lanky kid who didn’t know what he was doing. Of course he couldn’t just _walk_ up to them and tie them down, so he had to think—

And with Cordell breathing so heavily as if he was a glutton for oxygen, it was very hard to do so. Maybe it was better to get Jack and have him deal with this. 

Surprisingly, Rhys managed to tug Cordell out of the computer room without having him make a single sound. He backtracked, dragging the larger man through the halls until he caught up with Jack’s trail; it wasn’t so hard to find him, being that he was so loud when he talked, but…

This didn’t sound right. Was he fighting with Meg?

Rhys yanked the rope and ran closer, trying to get to them to see what the hell was going on. If he went any faster, he had a feeling he would be _literally_ dragging Cordell along with him. 

“Jack!” he called after the man, stopping _dead_ in his tracks when he saw Meg with a gun pointed at Jack’s head, right in the middle. His eyes widened, and he cried out in fear. 

It was as if everything suddenly turned slow motion. He could practically see Meg’s finger slowly squeeze the trigger, and how her gun lowered ever so slightly when she turned her head to look at Rhys once he entered, which had Rhys thinking that he _had_ to think fast, and he had to do it _now._

Almost immediately, Rhys raised his arm and aimed the pistol at Meg. In a swift second, Rhys shot his weapon, scoring a shot right in Meg’s head. The shot caused her finger to squeeze the trigger and unfortunately her gun was fired as well, right into Jack’s neck. As Meg dropped dead to the floor, Rhys’ eyes blurred with tears; in the loss of Meg, and in the potential loss of Jack. If he lost Jack, he hadn’t a clue what he would do. What would Hyperion do? What would happen to _himself?_

“Jack! Oh god, Jack!” Rhys abandoned both the rope as well as his weapon. He dropped it next to Jack and got down on his knees next to the CEO, hands immediately going to his waist to keep him up, but it was much more difficult than it looked. 

“C’mon Jack, you got this, you’re strong.” He quickly wipes the falling tears from his cheeks before sitting Jack up as much as he could, but he kept slumping over, presumably from passing out. Slowly Jack’s hand moved away from his neck, and eventually Jack passed out completely in Rhys’ grasp.

Rhys couldn’t stop panicking. He gripped onto Jack’s neck himself, but his hand alone wouldn’t be good enough for his wound. As quickly as he could, Rhys ripped off his other shirt sleeve and crumpled it to a good size and thickness for the wound. He presses it against the wound to put as much pressure as he could on it, and laid Jack on his back to keep him still. 

“Stop bleeding, goddamnit!” 

Rhys couldn’t stop the sobs choking out of him. He pressed harder on his wound, tears now streaming helplessly down his reddening cheeks like a river. He looked over at Cordell, seeing that he was just standing there staring at Rhys and the dead body on the floor with widened eyes. Rhys shakily pushed himself up, eyes locked on Cordell as he did so. He then grabbed his pistol from the ground and pointed it at Cordell.

“Go get a medic.” 

Cordell stood still in complete shock. 

“I said, _get a medic, asshole!”_

“Y-Yes!” Cordell bent over and gathered the rope on the ground and carried it as he ran off to go find whoever was willing to help, which he doubted would be anyone at this point. So far, it seemed that everyone was _against_ Jack, plus he caused a lot of the madness that was going on at the moment anyways. Still, trying to find a medic for that jerk was _much_ better than being shot.  
He could easily run away and never return, but that would cause Jack to die (which, he didn’t care) but Rhys would be on him the second Jack was dead, whether he was hiding or not. Rhys _would_ find him. 

-

“Medic!”

Cordell ran around the empty halls, screaming left and right. Why was he even making an effort? No one was here. 

_”Medic!”_

Cordell found his way into one of the medical supplies office. He was by no means a medical expert, but there were just the right supplies for Jack’s situation. Despite the fact that his wrists were bound together, he still managed to grab an armful of supplies (a small one at that), containing as much gauze as he could hold and medical tape. 

The run back was hard, but Cordell had to make do with the conditions he was in. There was no way Rhys would have untied his wrists, even though it was the sensible thing to do, but Cordell didn’t want to risk asking. Asking would have been a waste of time, and maybe even a waste of bullets, depending on how badly it would bother Rhys.  
Upon returning into the room, Rhys was in the same position, leaning over Jack and holding the cloth to his neck. He sheepishly walked over with an armful of supplies, then dropped them beside Rhys and Jack on the floor. Rhys’ head shot up to look at Cordell. 

“Where’s the medic?” 

“I-I couldn’t find one.” 

“You had _one_ job, Cordell!” Rhys yelled, as if it was the mans fault _completely_ for there being no medic present in his time of need. 

“Of course I couldn’t find anyone, there isn’t anyone around! You of all people should know that.” 

Rhys fell silent. He was being irrational, he guessed. Far too much was going on at the moment for Rhys to be able to think clearly. 

He sighed and tossed away the dirty cloth he had at Jack’s neck and replaced it with a bundle of gauze. 

“Shouldn’t you check for bullets? Shrapnel?” 

“I don’t exactly have the tools to do that, now do I?” Rhys looked up at Cordell and shot him a look of annoyance. “I could _kill_ him if I attempt to take out anything.” 

“But Rhys, what if there _is_ something in there? He could get infected, he-” 

“Well, maybe you should have brought some _fucking_ tweezers then!” 

Rhys wouldn’t admit it, but Cordell was right. If he pressed the gauze onto the wound with a bullet or shrapnel inside of his body, there would be dire consequences. So, he took a deep breath to calm himself, then moved the gauze to look at the wound. Thankfully, the bleeding had gone down quite a bit, and so far by the looks of it the bullet went right through his skin. Rhys let out a sigh of relief and pressed the bundle of gauze back onto his neck, then used medical tape to keep it in its place. Just in case, Rhys also wrapped a strip of gauze around his neck for extra security.

\--

It was a total _bitch_ getting Jack back into the office, but he managed to do it. Rhys was thin and lanky; not a whole lot of muscle in his body, and Jack was _heavy._ He seemed muscular, but at the same time he had a bit of a stomach. That, and with the fact that Jack was unconscious, made it almost twice as difficult. 

Thankfully, Jack had a couch in his office. Why? Rhys hadn’t a clue. He’s been in Jack’s office once or twice and he’s never seen anyone sit on that couch. Then again, it was only a couple times he’s been in there, but it looked like it’s never been touched; until now, anyways, since Rhys laid Jack down onto the couch for him to rest until he regained consciousness. 

Every now and then Rhys would make his way over to Jack to check how he was doing. So far, Jack was as still as he left him. Rhys left him and sat down in front of Cordell, who was tied up once again in the seat he was at before. 

The thought of Meg being dead was still on his mind. Of course it was; Meg was a wonderful person. She was nice to Rhys, and overall the best PA Jack has ever had. It made him much more upset with the fact that _he_ was the one that killed Meg. Rhys has never killed anyone in his life, and the first person he killed was someone he cared about. 

Rhys sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, tears still filling his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. He could see Cordell staring at him as if he’s never seen someone cry before, and god he wished he could punch him in the face. 

“Rhys…” 

“Shut up, Cordell.” 

“I’m sorry, Rhys.” 

“Sorry isn’t gonna cut it, buddy.” Rhys looked up from his lap, immediately wiping the tears away from his face. “You fucked up. You fucked up _so_ bad, Cordell, and there’s nothing you can do to redeem yourself. If you were smart, which, _clearly you aren’t,_ you would have known better not to fuck with Handsome Jack.”

“I needed the money! I had no choice!” 

“You were working at goddamn DAHL! You’d be getting money soon enough! And you said you couldn’t get a job at Hyperion, yet when you came here under another name, you **got the job.** You didn’t have to screw with Jack, you could have worked here and got money. You don’t need to be a dick to get money!” 

“Jack sure got money that way.” Immediately, Cordell knew it was a bad idea to say that. He clamped his mouth shut and looked down at his lap, not daring to look up at Rhys. 

Rhys eyes widened in surprise. Ultimately, he was rather shocked that Cordell even _dared_ to bring Jack into this. He wasn't about to have any of that. “You’re not Handsome Jack,” Rhys muttered behind clenched teeth, but Rhys couldn’t say much more to fight against the argument. Jack killed his boss to take over his spot, and did quite a few terrible things up until now. Still, he couldn't just _agree_ with Cordell; that would be ridiculous. “Don’t compare yourself to him.” 

“You’re right, I shouldn’t compare myself to him, because I wouldn’t stick my dick into my employees mouth.” 

That was the final straw. Immediately, Rhys got up and punched the man directly into the nose, hearing a crack which was no doubt his nose breaking against his knuckles. “You’re pretty ballsy now, aren’t you?” 

Cordell leaned forward and spat out the blood that he felt trickle down his throat. “I’m not getting out of here alive, so might as well speak my mind, right?” 

“I guess so.” Rhys threw another punch, right into the man’s jaw. He kept throwing punches, yelling insults and the like. Eventually Cordell was choking on his own blood and begging Rhys to quit punching him already. Rhys stepped back while wiping his bloody fist onto his pants. Cordell spat out more of his blood as well as a tooth, then went into a flurry of coughs. He was drowning in his own blood; whenever he breathed in through his nose or his mouth, more blood came down his throat and made him choke and gag on it until he was spitting blood all over the floor in front of him. 

Rhys couldn’t stand looking at Cordell anymore. He was making a mess of Jack’s floor, and he knew Jack was definitely going to be pissed about that, but that could be dealt with later. Rhys left Cordell’s sight and went over to Jack, who looked to have changed position on the couch. Rhys made his way over quickly and leaned over Jack, touching his arm with his clean hand. 

“Jack? Are you awake?” 

No response. 

Rhys gently shook his body. “Jack? Please answer me.” 

He got a mumbles and a groan from Jack, as well as his arm swatting him away. Well, that was a good enough indication that he was okay. Rhys let out a sigh of relief before bending over and grabbing the mug of water he brought to the couch. 

“Jack, you gotta drink something.” He nudged his backside with his knee, but only got a groan in response. Rhys sighed again; it was as if Rhys was waking up Jack to go to school, he was being such a brat. He put down the mug in defeat, on the small table near the couch, which had various papers on it as well as a magazine. 

“The water’s right there if you need it.”

Instead of making his leave, Rhys just stood there and stared at Jack. The man laid on his side, back facing Rhys and breathing shallowly; one would have to hold their breath to see if Jack’s torso was actually moving. Rhys didn’t move an inch; his eyes stayed on Jack. What was he to do? If he left him, what more did he have to do? Yell at Cordell? He already beat the shit out of him anyways. 

He thought of those men he found before he killed Meg. Those were definitely the guys that started all of this. He left them be for now to go and get Jack, which saved his life. But those men… They weren’t stupid enough to stay in one spot, right? Rhys was wasting precious time just standing around. What would Jack think? He assumed Jack would throw a fit if he told him he found them but left to go and get Jack, then stayed back even longer to tend to his wounds. Sure, if Rhys hadn’t have done that Jack would be dead, but that would more likely not be what’s top priority on Jack’s mind at the moment. But currently Jack was okay; not fully restored and himself just yet, but he was fine. And now that he was fine, Rhys had the freedom to leave and do what he needed to do without having worried thoughts. 

With that, Rhys made his way over to Cordell and untied the leash-like rope from his seat, and yanked him up ruthlessly. 

“God Rhys, what are we doing now?” 

“Can it, asshole,” Rhys spat as he dragged Cordell along like a bad owner would do to their dog. “You’re coming with me, and if you fuck _any_ of this up, I’ll make sure your death is painful, long, and _slow._

“But if you’re good… I _might_ let you live.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i smell dark!rhys coming along
> 
> hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it!! thanks for sticking around


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here u go have some crazy shit that went down, i hope u enjoy it bc i had a blast writing this
> 
> dont u worry guys some reAL rhack will start happening once all this shit dies down, since yknow its taking over their lives lmao, but rhack will start coming soon so stick with me i promise it'll get good

The fact that all of this was happening was a huge mind-fuck. At the beginning of the day everything was alright; no one was dead, Rhys’ clothes weren’t ripped and covered in blood, Cordell didn’t exist in their minds, Jack wasn’t half-conscious on his couch from loss of blood because he was freaking _shot…_

Everything _was_ okay. But not anymore. 

Too many people died. Rhys only knew of one dead person for sure, but he was certain other innocent people died as well. Jack no doubt killed a few people while he went on that rampage earlier. 

Rhys wanted everything to go back to normal already. He wanted to wake up from his sleep and find himself safe in his apartment, get ready for work, sit at his desk and wait patiently for Meg to come walking over and tell him Jack wanted to see him, and he would go, very happily, and spend the rest of his shift in his office. He wanted to wake up each day and walk to the coffee shop like he always did, and drink his favourite coffee before heading into work.

More than anything, he wished Meg was still alive. He wished none of that would have happened. No, he didn’t wish Jack were dead instead of Meg, or wished he was dead than the two of them, no he just _wished_ that none of this even happened in the first place. He wished with all his heart that Cordell was smarter than he actually was, and he _wished_ he didn’t even step foot into Jack’s office. 

The more he wished, the angrier he got. It was pathetic, he kept thinking to himself, because this wasn’t an _apocalypse._ This has only been going on today, yet it felt like weeks. This would be sorted out soon and everything will be okay. They were so close to the end. 

Rhys grit his teeth as he dragged Cordell along and into the large computer room. Rhys was no longer amazed at the sight, much like he was before. He looked in, seeing the men were still there (surprisingly), but at a further distance. He let out the breath he was holding, and pulled the gun from his holster. 

“Stay here,” Rhys hissed to Cordell, pressing him up against a file cabinet. He goes to walk away, but Cordell moves and follows him. Immediately, Rhys looked back at him and glared. 

“Do you think I’m joking?” 

Cordell didn’t answer. 

“Just stay here, goddamn it.” 

“I’m not a dog,” Cordell whispered back, extending his arms over to Rhys. “Untie me. I’m not a _fucking_ dog.” 

“Cordell, sit the fuck down.” Rhys put his hand to his chest and gently shoved him against the cabinet, then pressed the gun to Cordell’s forehead. “Sit. Down.” 

Cordell uses his tied wrists to smack the gun away from his head. He goes to shout something, but quickly Rhys shoves him backwards with a large amount of force. The man stumbles backwards and hits the back of his head off the cabinet and crumbles to the floor. 

“Who’s there?” 

Rhys crouched down and hid behind one of the desks, looking around the corner to see what was going on. Shit, shit! He saw the two men making their way toward the sound; one had a revolver pistol, and the other had an assault rifle. Rhys gulped nervously and took in a shaky breath. 

“I heard something over here,” the blond announced, clutching the fire rifle as he walked up a small set of stairs. 

As they grew closer, Rhys moved from one computer to another, trying to get as far away from them as possible. He got to the end of the row of computers, then makes a quick dash to the other set of computers. 

The blond, Quincy, looked over at the sound rather quickly and aimed his rifle. 

“I saw ‘im,” he muttered, closing one eye as he aimed down the sight. His partner, the brunet, walked a bit closer and stood beside Quincy with a raised brow. 

“Are you sure, Quin? I don’t see anything—“ 

“Are you stupid? He’s hidin’ behind the desk! I ain’t blind, mate, I fucking saw him.” He immediately started shooting the desk, fire bullets burning the wood and revealing Rhys, who yelped and quickly scurried to the untouched desk. 

“Y’see?” Quincy laughed and glanced to Harrison. “Yer just getting’ deaf in your old age.” Immediately, Quincy made his way over to Rhys. Rhys was shaking violently in fear, but in the matter of quick thinking he got up and ran off as fast as he could. Quincy aimed his rifle at Rhys as he ran and started to shoot. Most of the shots missed his body, since the rifle was spraying its bullets around (plus the recoil was most likely a bitch to handle for the thin man), but some grazed against his waist and legs. Rhys yelled in pain, but kept running, quickly turning and making his way down another row of computers. Thankfully the wound was just a graze, and quickly the bleeding had stopped from the fire burning and cooking his skin to a crisp. He heard Quincy following him, yelling after him while he did so. 

“It’s stupid to run!” He shouted, turning the corner Rhys did moments ago. 

Rhys hid behind another desk and quickly pulled out his pistol from his holster and turned off the safety. He clutched the pistol tight in his hands and mentally prepared himself for Quincy to show his face. He looked around the corner, making mental note of all his surroundings before moving from his spot and going somewhere else once he heard Quincy approach a bit too close for comfort. 

His next spot was behind a large book shelf. He kept his back pressed against the shelf, occasionally turning his head to see if Quincy was anywhere near him. 

“Harrison!” 

Rhys held his breath when he heard Quincy speak. His voice sounded distant, but not _too_ distant; he could still be caught if he made a noise. 

“Help me find this wanker! We don’t got all day!” 

Rhys further pressed himself into hiding, covering his mouth with his free hand to keep himself from making any kind of noise. He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the sound of footsteps, which seemed to be going further away from him. He turned his head to look with one eye, seeing that the men were in fact quite a bit away; Rhys occasionally saw a bit of the two when they walked out from behind the computers. Slowly, he made his way out and started to get closer to the two, hiding behind any large object near him. The feeling of being exposed too long made his body burn up and cause him to sweat profusely. 

He had to think of a plan, because he couldn’t go in guns blazing. First of all, he was outnumbered, and secondly, Quincy had a rifle. A fully-automatic fire rifle. There was no way he was showing his face or he would be killed in seconds. Rhys _had_ to be stealthy. 

Rhys popped his head up once again and looked around, seeing that the men still continued their hunt further away from his actual location. The company man took in a breath and started to walk out, steps slow and steady until he reached the computer desks, where he continued his walk while crouched. 

He heard the others speak once again, but it was all muffled mumbo jumbo at this point. Rhys was far too concentrated with his plan of not dying, to the point that all he heard was his own heart beat and the sound of his shoes tapping against the floor. 

Watching diligently, Rhys saw Harrison walk further away from Quincy, presumably from the fact that the smaller English man had ordered him to look in a different section rather than be on his ass, which would be quite the waste of time. Although Rhys had picked up that the two were pretty stupid, he still expected them to split up and almost jumped for joy when they actually did. Quincy stood in once place, shifting from one foot to the other. 

Now was Rhys’ chance. 

He made his way over, quickly yet quietly, then brought up the gun above Quincy’s head. With the butt of his gun, Rhys smacked the back of his head as hard as he could, unintentionally letting out a high pitched grunt. Quincy yelped in pain and grabbed the back of his head with both hands, and turned to face Rhys in an instant. Rhys stared at him, eyes wide in surprise, as if he actually thought that would work and knock the man out. He gripped his gun and aimed at Quincy’s head while backing up away from him. 

“Get down!” He yelled at the blond, voice wavering slightly in fear. 

Quincy stared at Rhys, as if he was trying to search for some kind of dead giveaway that would show that Rhys was just bluffing. He smirked at the boy then chuckled a bit. “Yer bluffin’,” he spoke, putting a hand in his pocket and standing with pride, much like how Jack does. “I can tell. Looks like yer about to piss your pants.” 

Although that may be true, Rhys still gripped onto his pistol, aiming it right at the man’s face. “I said, get down.” 

Quincy brought his gun up as well and aimed at Rhys’ legs using one hand. “How about _you_ get down, missy?” 

Rhys continued to back up away from him, until he backed up against another man. He quickly turned around, seeing that it was the other’s business partner. He shook in fear, slowly looking away from the other and over to Quincy. 

“I got you cornered,” the English man spoke, making his way over to Rhys. “There’s no use doin’ _anythin’,_ mate, you’re screwed. Now drop the gun, alright? It’ll make things easier.” 

Rhys refused to do anything the other said. He kept his pistol up, aiming at Quincy with the tightest grip he could do without hurting himself. Quincy sighed and shrugged dramatically, averting his gaze to Harrison. 

“I guess the boy wants to do it the hard way.” Quincy aimed his rifle to Rhys and shot his arm holding the pistol, making Rhys yell and drop the gun onto the floor. He gripped onto his flesh arm with his cybernetic one and cried out in pain, gripping onto his wound tightly as he watched Quincy kick away his weapon. 

“I wouldn’t have had to do that, mate,” Quincy announced, shoving Rhys over to the wall, pushing the company man onto his stomach. Harrison took Quincy’s place and held Rhys down against the wall. “All you had to do was drop your weapon.” 

Rhys whimpered and panted, squirming to get away from the larger mans grasp. He closed his eyes tightly and whimpered as he felt Harrison’s hand gripping onto his cybernetic wrist. 

“Rip it off, will ya?” Quincy smirked, putting his rifle down and leaning it against one of the desks. “Sure the lad won’t be needing it anymore.” 

As if Harrison was some kind of bitch to Quincy, he did as he was told and bent the arm behind Rhys, making the boy scream in pain and fear. Within moments, the cybernetic arm was bent and ripped out of it’s socket, leaving scrap and wires hanging out of what was attached to his body. Rhys let out another cry of pain, shivering with discomfort as blood dripped down his torso. 

He was at a disadvantage now. An obvious, unfair, _complete_ disadvantage. He had only one arm, and would no doubt have loss of balance once he did try to move and get away. On top of that, he was losing blood, and he knew he was losing lots of it. In any other time he were to lose his arm, he would have been a goner, on the floor and already dying and bleeding out, but currently adrenaline was coursing through his veins. With all the power he had, Rhys pushed himself away from the wall, and with a swift kick hit Harrison in the groin, making him groan in pain and drop the Hyperion cybernetic arm. While Quincy ran back to fumble and grab his rifle, Rhys had picked up his arm (which was rather heavy to carry with one arm), and swung it to the side of Harrison’s head, hitting him right in the temple and knocking him out cold. In the time that Quincy was picking up his rifle and making his way to Rhys, Rhys had already dropped his arm and bent over to pick up his pistol and aim it at Quincy, much like he was before but this time had much more confidence, and not a shaking muscle in sight. 

“Now, are you gonna get down?” He questioned, voice weak and not as booming as he would have hoped. “Or are _you_ going to make things difficult, now?”

It was quite the chance of pace now, wasn’t it? Rhys was the one with the gun, the one with power and control. Quincy’s hands came up in surrender, and the sight made Rhys smirk, despite the fact he just had his arm ripped off and his body was shot. 

“That’s it,” Rhys spoke, making his way over to Quincy as he got on his knees onto the floor. “Now, don’t move.” He aimed his pistol down and shot Quincy in the knee. The man screamed and gripped onto the wound, flopping down onto his side as he let out cries of pain. 

Rhys slid the gun back into his holster and made no hesitation to go to Cordell and grab the rope from him. The man was still on the floor, unconscious and bleeding a bit on the back of his head. Rhys scoffed and kicked the man over onto his back, then grabbed the rope from his wrists and went back to the other two men, using it to bound the two together tight enough that they couldn’t get away. It was very much difficult to tie up the men with one arm, but he was still successful (surprisingly). 

“Now, who’s the one in charge, assholes?” Rhys commented, tying their bodies together and around the leg of one of the desks nearby. 

“Don’t get too cocky,” Quincy muttered through clenched teeth. “It’ll come back to bite ya, and trust me mate, I’ll be the one biting.” 

“I’m sure you will,” Rhys replied sweetly, tying the rope into a tight knot with his mouth and hand before getting up and making his way out of the computer room, making sure to drag his cybernetic arm along with him.

\--

On his way back to Jack’s office, Rhys shook harder than he did before, but this was for a much different reason. Ever since he knew about Jack, he always wondered what it would be like to have as much power as he did. Although Rhys didn’t just become CEO of a huge company and he merely defeated two men much like himself, he still felt like he was on top of the world. The shaking was from excitement and adrenaline, and it felt like a drug that Rhys would no doubt like to get a taste of again. With a large smile on his face, he entered Jack’s office and made his way over to the couch, seeing that Jack was still resting, but with his water empty. 

“Jack?” Rhys called softly, standing in front of the man with his arm draped over his eyes. He grunted in response. “I have something to show you.” 

That definitely got Jack’s attention. He opened his eyes and moved his arm away, slowly sitting up to look at Rhys, only to find his arms bleeding, and his legs burnt. 

“What in the _fuck_ did you do?” 

“You’ll see,” Rhys smiled happily, almost jumping up and down in his spot like an excited school girl. He placed his bloodied cybernetic arm down on the floor and extended his arm over to Jack to take so he could escort him to the computer room. Jack looked up at Rhys as if he completely lost it (which, he probably did) and got up without taking Rhys’ hand. 

“You better not have done something stupid,” Jack muttered, hands in his pockets as he followed Rhys. He had a million questions to ask, all because Rhys looked like total shit. What in the hell happened to him? On the journey there, Jack had prodded the younger man with questions, but Rhys always answered with ‘you’ll see,’ or ‘I’ll explain when we get there.’ Jack decided to lay off. 

Upon entering the room, Rhys grabbed Jack’s hand and tugged him along, bringing him over to the two bodies laying on the ground, tied up just like he left them. Harrison had woken up, clearly, but was still wavering and barely there. Quincy was surprisingly still up, hands still gripping onto his leg in agony. 

“Are those-“ 

“Yep!” Rhys looked at Jack with a smile, like a proud boy trying to impress his father. “These are the guys Cordell described. I know for sure it’s them.” 

Jack was speechless to say the least. As rude as it may seem, Jack was _completely_ surprised Rhys did something like this. Of course, Rhys clearly took quite a bit of damage, but he still got out alive and was able to go to Jack _with a smile_ and show him what he had done. 

The CEO ruffled up Rhys’ hair and shot him a smirk. “Well done, pumpkin.” 

Rhys lifted his head and pressed against the large hand as if he was a feline, accepting the praise he was given. 

Although Jack would have definitely been raging with anger at the sight of the two men who fucked up everything, at the moment he felt at peace. He was no longer stressed about finding these guys, considering the job was done for him and all neatly tied up with a little bow. The weight was lifted off of Jack’s shoulders, and he felt better than ever. 

Jack crouched down to eye level with the men, and gave them a sinister grin. “We have a _lot_ of talking to do, kiddos,” he started off, cracking his knuckles afterwards to make himself much more sinister and serious. “I can’t believe you idiots thought you could get away.” Jack stood and turned his head to look at Rhys. “Go get me Cordell, babe, we’ll all have a chat here.” 

Rhys complied and made his way over to where Cordell was knocked out. He felt as if he was floating; the praise from Jack felt better than ever, as well as the new given pet name ‘babe’. He felt as if he did Jack good, and he made the man happy despite all the shit that was happening. All the happiness quickly drained away from him once he got to the filing cabinet, finding that Cordell was nowhere to be found. Rhys had gotten much too carried away and didn’t even think about the fact that Cordell could just up and go easily, being that he had no one babysitting him and no rope tying him down. Technically, at this point, Cordell was a free man. 

“Um… Jack?” Rhys called sheepishly, making his way over to Jack, who was busy staring and burning holes into the two men’s bodies with his death glare. 

“Yes, princess?” 

God, Rhys hated to have to break the news to him. The way Jack gave him such sweet names, the way he looked at him with _hope_ and happiness, and Rhys had to shoot it all down. 

“H-He’s gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check out my tumblr whenever yo, it's definitely appreciated jackshairytanarms.tumblr.com


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